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| {{short description|Alternative medicine and pseudoscience}} | {{short description|Alternative medicine and pseudoscience}} | ||
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| Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness. A diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression. |
Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness. A diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression. | ||
| The discipline of functional medicine is vaguely defined by its proponents.<ref name=quackademic/> Oncologist ] has written that the vagueness is a deliberate tactic, but that in general its practice centers on unnecessary and expensive testing procedures performed in the name of "holistic" health care.<ref name=gorski1016>{{cite web |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/functional-medicine-the-ultimate-misnomer-in-the-world-of-integrative-medicine/ |title=Functional medicine: The ultimate misnomer in the world of integrative medicine |last=Gorski |first=David | authorlink=David Gorski |date=11 April 2016 |website=Science Based Medicine}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | The Functional Medicine model evolved from the insights and perspectives of a small group of influential thought leaders who realized the importance of an individualized approach to disease causes based on the evolving research in nutritional science, genomics, and epigenetics. These thought leaders found ways to apply these new advances in the clinic to address root causes using low-risk interventions that modify molecular and cellular systems to reverse these drivers of diseaseTreatments, practices, and concepts will generally be those not supported by ].<ref name=sampson1>{{cite web |last= Sampson |first= Wallace |authorlink= Wallace Sampson |title= Functional Medicine – New Kid on the Block |url= http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=271 |work= ] |date= October 30, 2008 |accessdate= }}</ref> | ||
| Proponents of functional medicine oppose established medical knowledge and reject its models, instead adopting a model of disease based on the notion of "antecedents", "triggers", and "mediators".<ref name=patient/> These are meant to correspond to the underlying causes, the immediate causes, and the particular characteristics of a person's illness respectively.<ref name=patient>{{Cite journal|journal=Patient |title=Therapies and Theories Outside Traditional Medicine |accessdate=11 December 2015 |author=Knott L |url=http://patient.info/doctor/therapies-and-theories-outside-traditional-medicine |date=6 February 2015}}</ref> A functional medicine practitioner will devise a "matrix" from these things which acts as a basis for treatment.<ref name=patient/> | |||
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| == Institute for Functional Medicine == | == Institute for Functional Medicine == | ||
Revision as of 16:17, 15 June 2020
Alternative medicine and pseudoscience
Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness. A diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression.
The Functional Medicine model evolved from the insights and perspectives of a small group of influential thought leaders who realized the importance of an individualized approach to disease causes based on the evolving research in nutritional science, genomics, and epigenetics. These thought leaders found ways to apply these new advances in the clinic to address root causes using low-risk interventions that modify molecular and cellular systems to reverse these drivers of diseaseTreatments, practices, and concepts will generally be those not supported by medical evidence.
Institute for Functional Medicine
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jeffrey Bland, PhD |
| Focus | "To serve the highest expression of individual health through the widespread adoption of functional medicine as the standard of care." |
| Method | Education, Research, Collaboration |
| Key people | Mark Hyman, MD, Chairman |
| Website | functionalmedicine.org |
Functional medicine was invented by chemist Jeffrey Bland. He and Susan Bland founded the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991 as a division of HealthComm. That year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said that Jeffrey Bland's corporations HealthComm and Nu-Day Enterprises had falsely advanced claims that their products could alter metabolism and induce weight loss. The FTC found that Bland and his companies violated that consent order in 1995 by making more exaggerated claims. The UltraClear dietary program was said to provide relief from gastrointestinal problems, inflammatory and immunologic problems, fatigue, food allergies, mercury exposure, kidney disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis. The companies were forced to pay a $45,000 civil penalty.
The opening of centers for functional medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and at George Washington University has been described by Gorski as an "unfortunate" example of pseudoscientific quackery infiltrating medical academia.
Reception
In 2014, the American Academy of Family Physicians withdrew granting of course credits for functional medicine courses, having identified some of its treatments as "harmful and dangerous" In 2018, it partly lifted the ban, but only to allow teaching an overview of functional medicine, not to teach its practice.
References
- Sampson, Wallace (October 30, 2008). "Functional Medicine – New Kid on the Block". Science-Based Medicine.
- "Our Mission". December 2014.
- Leyton E (2006). "Functional medicine". Can Fam Physician. 52 (12): 1540. PMC 1783750. PMID 17279230.
- ^ Barrett, Stephen (September 11, 2013). "Some Notes on Jeffrey Bland and Metagenics". Quackwatch. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
- "Founders". www.functionalmedicine.org. Institute for Functional Medicine. n.d. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- Cite error: The named reference
quackademicwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Bellamy J (26 October 2017). "AAFP: Functional Medicine lacks supporting evidence; includes 'harmful' and 'dangerous' treatments". Science-Based-Medicine.
- Bellamy J (27 October 2018). "AAFP should publish research behind finding that functional medicine lacks evidence, contains harmful and dangerous practices". Science-Based-Medicine.
Further reading
- Gorski, David (14 April 2014). "Bill and Hillary Clinton go woo with Dr. Mark Hyman and 'functional medicine'". Science-Based Medicine.