Functional Medicine

Functional Medicine was invented by nutritionist Jeffrey Bland. Functional Medicine focuses on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems.

According to the Institute for Functional Medicine, “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. 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.”

For more information visit the Institute for Functional Medicine at www.ifm.org/functional-medicine/what-is-functional-medicine/