FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE

As the Institute of Functional Medicine states, “functional medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease.” Functional medicine is a personalized approach to addressing the fundamental cause of disease manifestation and addressing symptoms even prior to definitive diagnosis of a particular illness, in this way it is true primary prevention. Conventional medicine aims for early detection of a disease and a diagnosis is made based on symptoms. From a scientific standpoint, functional medicine uses applied biochemistry to identify the complexities of a disease and assist the body to normalize into a healthy state, this is often done with the use of nutraceuticals or supplements. As illustrated below a disease process may have varying causes and one cause may result in various illnesses. At its root, functional medicine is health oriented while conventional medicine is more disease oriented.