Written by: Dr Sara Rizvi, Associate Functional Medicine Doctor
Functional Medicine as a term was first coined by Dr Willoughby F Wade, a physician at Birmingham General Hospital in 1871. He stated that a disease is a disordered function and functional medicine is the restoration of disordered function. It is essentially about getting the bodily systems back in balance.
Both functional and lifestyle medicine has similar outlook in their approaches, in that they both look towards root-cause resolution and emphasise the prevention of disordered function. However, they utilise different methods with varying focus.
Functional Medicine is a systems-biology-based approach that comprises of seven clinical core systems, which are:
- Assimilation of nutrients, digestion and the microbiome
- Defence and repair – the immune and inflammatory system
- Energy generated by the mitochondria
- Biotransformation and elimination – how our bodies remove internal waste and external toxins
- Communication – hormones, neurotransmitters
- Transport – circulation and lymphatic flow
- Structural health – muscles, bones, cells and tissues
This framework recognises the myriad of interconnections between all the major systems. For example, the state of our gut health will have a significant impact on how well we manage infections and inflammation. Functional Medicine takes the root cause approach and seeks to identify the underlying causes of health issues.
Lifestyle medicine, on the other hand, will focus more on healthy lifestyle behaviours which include nutrition, sleep, stress management and movement. This approach is based on scientific evidence that supports the role of lifestyle interventions in promoting health and preventing disease. It essentially relies on lifestyle modifications as its primary form of treatment and focuses on empowering individuals to make sustainable changes to their habits and behaviours.
Individualised care at its core, Functional Medicine will use targeted therapies which will include lifestyle modifications, herbal medicines, supplements, dietary changes as well as detox programmes. Much of the personalised care comes from the interpretations of functional investigations such as stool assessment, detailed blood tests, organic acid testing and hormone tests.
In summary, lifestyle modifications play a major role in functional medicine but they are not the only aspect that is incorporated in the assessment and treatment plan of an individual hoping to restore their imbalances to optimal function.