Functional nutrition and functional medicine are two health concepts thrust in the spotlight lately. What
do they really mean?
The way most of us think about going to see a nutritionist is to get recommendations on the vitamins and minerals we may need, including some specific supplementation based on our activities. Often, we may go to a nutritionist to get a diet that may help address our symptoms. This is a symptom-based approach, and while a good method with likely good results, it rarely gets to the heart of the problems.
If a patient has hypothyroidism, a nutritionist might recommend an anti-inflammatory diet of some variety, iodine salts, selenium, zinc or copper, and maybe the bladderwrack herb. Of course, the list of vitamins, minerals and herbs that may help hypothyroidism symptoms is in the hundreds. The problem is the lack of individual medicine in these scenarios; determining what will work for whom is the crux of the situation. This is often why the efficacy of natural care can be dubious. These vitamins, minerals and herbs do not cure hypothyroidism. What they do, only if necessary in a particular individual, is deal with certain deficiencies, many of which could be a part of the thyroid family of diseases. What will work for one, will do nothing for another.
True functional nutrition is another animal altogether. The overall concern is not the symptom but the actual functional prowess of the organs and glands of the body. In this view, the symptoms of low energy, hair loss, high thyroid levels, etc., are caused by the breakdown of one or more processes of the body. From this standpoint, hypothyroidism (particularly Hashimoto’s, the most common type) is often caused by dysfunction of the liver, small intestines, adrenal glands and a build-up of toxicity in the body.
Notice, I failed to mention the thyroid itself. If you have been reading my health briefs, you will understand why. For those that haven’t: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease, meaning the dysfunction is of the immune system, which happens to live in the small intestines and Kupffer cells of the liver. But this is beyond the scope of this health brief.
The term functional medicine is just a keyword for a style of practice that truly is the ultimate in natural health care. We must nd those that are truly experienced in its practice, not just those that took a weekend course or two.
In the far majority of cases, improvements with appropriate therapies should occur within four to six weeks, often regardless of how long the person has had symptoms or his/her family history. Great health and vitality are achievable.
Source: Dr. David Pollack, of Pollack Wellness Institute, located at 66 Commack Rd., Ste. 204, Commack. For more information, call 631-462-0801 or visit PollackWellness.com.
1 Comment
I like that you pointed out how functional nutrition’s overall concern is not the symptom but the actual functional prowess of the organs and glands of the body. I was skimming through a book in the library yesterday and I discovered how functional nutrition works. It looks like functional nutrition online training is being offered now, which seems very interesting.