Functional Medicine

This personalised approach to medicine allows you to treat the underlying cause of disease—not just manage the symptoms of it.

This approach to health care is grounded on functional medicine–a term coined by Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland, Chief Science Officer at Metagenics. This science-based, patient-centered medical system is based on the functional modalities central to many conventional and complementary practices. But its primary distinction from some of these approaches is a focus on overall health—physical, mental, and emotional. It's not a single treatment for a single disease (or its symptoms).

An Individualised Approach to Disease Prevention

The goal of functional medicine is prevention and addressing the underlying clinical imbalances that may lead to any number of chronic illnesses. The human body functions as a network of interconnected systems that affect each other, so functional medicine treats the whole body rather than a sub-section or single organ system. And because each body is unique, functional medicine considers each patient's "biochemical individuality"—those variations in optimal body functions due to genetic or lifestyle factors.

The treatment objective in a functional medicine approach is overall vitality and a greater health span—not just absence of disease. That's contrary to what may currently be the standard for modern health care. But that standard is changing.

TLC & Nutrigenomics—Practical Modalities of Functional Medicine

Functional medicine aims to restore health and improve functionality by intervening at multiple levels to address core clinical imbalances. For some practices, that may be a transformation in the familiar standard for primary care. But the change doesn't have to be a difficult one. While training and certification in functional medicine are available and increasing in demand, any health care professional can adopt a functional medicine philosophy.

Therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) and targeted nutrition to promote healthy genetic expression (nutrigenomics) are two patient-centered, functional medicine modalities that can be easily implemented into a wide variety of clinical practices. TLC and nutrigenomics have been demonstrated effective in managing and reversing chronic illness and symptoms. TLC is also endorsed as the standard of care for many of today's most challenging and costly chronic illnesses.