

They may investigate multiple factors causing a condition, or they may look into multiple conditions causing one symptom.Ī doctor in functional medicine works holistically, considering the full picture of your physical, mental, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual health. Science-Based Medicine.Functional medicine doctors use specialized training and techniques to find the root causes of complex illnesses. "Bill and Hillary Clinton go woo with Dr.

"Therapies and Theories Outside Traditional Medicine". "Functional medicine: The ultimate misnomer in the world of integrative medicine". ^ "Institute for Functional Medicine 2001 tax forms"."Some Notes on Jeffrey Bland and Metagenics". ^ Barrett, Stephen (11 September 2013).^ a b McHale, Fionnuala (October 23, 2018) " Functional medicine: Is it the future of healthcare or just another wellness trend?" Irish Independent."AAFP should publish research behind finding that functional medicine lacks evidence, contains harmful and dangerous practices". "AAFP: Functional Medicine lacks supporting evidence includes 'harmful' and 'dangerous' treatments". "Quackademia update: The Cleveland Clinic, George Washington University, and the continued infiltration of quackery into medical academia". ^ a b c d Gorski, David (September 29, 2014)."Functional Medicine: Pseudoscientific Silliness". "Integrative medicine at academic health centers: A survey of clinicians' educational backgrounds and practices" (PDF). ^ Ehrlich, G Callender, T Gaster, B (May 2013)."Complementary and alternative medicine: An overview". "Functional Medicine – New Kid on the Block". ^ a b Sampson, Wallace (October 30, 2008).The opening of centers for functional medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and at the George Washington University has been described by Gorski as an "unfortunate" example of pseudoscientific quackery infiltrating medical academia. 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. Scientists state that claimed detox supplements are a waste of time and money. Despite lacking evidence or studies to back up his claim, Joe Pizzorno, a major figure in functional medicine, purports that 25% of people in the United States have heavy metal poisoning and need to undergo detoxification. įunctional medicine practitioners claim to diagnose and treat conditions that have been found by research studies to not exist, such as adrenal fatigue and numerous imbalances in body chemistry. Treatments, practices, and concepts will generally be those not supported by medical evidence. A functional medicine practitioner will devise a "matrix" from these factors which acts as a basis for treatment.

These are meant to correspond to the underlying causes, the immediate causes, and the particular characteristics of a person's illness respectively. 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". Oncologist David Gorski has written that the vagueness is a deliberate tactic that makes functional medicine difficult to challenge, but that in general its practice centers on unnecessary and expensive testing procedures performed in the name of "holistic" health care. The discipline of functional medicine is vaguely defined by its proponents. Today Mark Hyman is one of the leading proponents. IFM, which promotes functional medicine, became a registered non-profit in 2001. Bland founded The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) in the early 1990s as part of one of his companies HealthComm. įunctional medicine was created by Jeffrey Bland. In the United States, functional medicine practices have been ruled ineligible for course credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians because of concerns they may be harmful. Its proponents claim that it focuses on the "root causes" of diseases based on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems to develop "individualized treatment plans." It has been described as pseudoscience, quackery, and at its essence a rebranding of complementary and alternative medicine. Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments.
