What is Functional Medicine ?

Root Cause Analysis

Functional medicine combines conventional medical practices with alternative and complementary therapies. This can include dietary changes, supplements, stress management techniques, and lifestyle modifications alongside traditional medical treatments.

Patient-Centred Approach

Instead of merely treating symptoms, functional medicine aims to identify and address the underlying causes of illness. This may involve looking into various factors such as nutrition, hormonal imbalances, gut health, and inflammation.

 

Integrative Methods

Functional medicine looks at the body as an interconnected system rather than isolated organs or symptoms. It seeks to understand how different bodily systems interact and contribute to overall health.

Emphasis on Prevention

By understanding the factors that contribute to disease, functional medicine aims to prevent illness before it starts, promoting long-term health and wellness.

 

Holistic Perspective

This approach emphasizes a partnership between patient and practitioner, where the patient's history and experiences are critical to understanding their health issues.

Individualised Care

Functional medicine practitioners tailor their approach to each patient, taking into account their unique genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environmental influences.

Overall, functional medicine aims to provide a more comprehensive and personalized healthcare experience, promoting optimal health by addressing the whole person rather than just treating symptoms.

How to do Functional Medicine?

In functional medicine, the patient's medical history is evaluated and extra tests are performed to examine the factors that may cause the disease. At the same time, the patient is asked about his/her problems. Thanks to this information, details about malnutrition, toxins, allergens, stress and body microbiota that trigger the disease are obtained. All the collected data is analysed and a personalised healthy life plan is created for each patient as a result of this analysis. The basis of the treatment is nutrition and lifestyle changes. The main goal is to take responsibility for the distress experienced by the person through adequate and balanced eating habits and lifestyle changes. In functional medicine treatment, an elimination diet is applied to understand the effects of foods on the person. As a result of this diet, a nutrition programme suitable for the person is prepared and it is aimed to support the medical treatment by recommending exercise and nutritional supplements.

What does a Functional Medicine Doctor do?

Functional medicine doctors act from a perspective that tries to get to the root of chronic diseases by undergoing specific training after medical education. They consider the patient's physical, mental and sometimes spiritual health as a whole. Taking into account many components such as genetics, nutrition, lifestyle, medications, blood and urine analyses, it prepares a personalised treatment plan that will contribute to chronic diseases and disease prevention. The functional medicine doctor uses the patients



Symptom timeline



Sleep patterns



Exercise habits



Nutritional status



Stress factors



Personal relationships

What does Functional Medicine Involve?

The functional medicine approach, which claims that chronic inflammation underlies all diseases, can play a supportive role in the routine treatment of diseases. It helps people with chronic diseases to cope with the symptoms of the disease. It is of great importance to consult with the branch doctors related to the disease in functional medicine treatment applications for patients.

What are Functional Foods?

The basis of the contribution of functional foods to the body lies in the components in foods. In some foods, these components can be found naturally, while some foods can be enriched with these components. Vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, folic acid, vitamins B12 and B6, and minerals such as selenium, zinc, iron, copper are some of the components found in functional foods. So, what are functional foods? The following foods are among the functional foods:

  • Probiotic yoghurt
  • Fortified fruit juice
  • Milk fortified with vegetable milks such as almond, rice, coconut milk
  • Gluten-free foods
  • Omega-3 containing oils
  • Eggs enriched with omega-3
  • Fruits such as oranges, bananas, apples, peaches, kiwi, strawberries
  • Vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, courgette, cabbage
  • Nuts such as Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews
  • Chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds
  • Lentils, chickpeas
  • Salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel
  • Oats, barley, buckwheat
  • Tempeh, sauerkraut, kefir
  • Ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, chilli.

 

What are Functional Drinks?

Functional beverages are beverages obtained by adding ingredients such as antioxidants, dietary fibre, prebiotics, protein, peptides, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. At the same time, beverages such as green tea, coffee, black tea, which have beneficial effects on health, are also considered functional beverages. There are various types of functional drinks such as milk-based drinks, probiotic drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, meal replacement fruit and vegetable smoothies, caffeinated drinks.

Bland J. Functional Medicine: An Operating System for Integrative Medicine. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2015 Oct;14(5):18-20. PMID: 26770161; PMCID: PMC4712869.

Abuajah CI, Ogbonna AC, Osuji CM. Functional components and medicinal properties of food: a review. J Food Sci Technol. 2015 May;52(5):2522-9. doi: 10.1007/s13197-014-1396-5. Epub 2014 May 16. PMID: 25892752; PMCID: PMC4397330.