Functional Medicine Part 1
Last weekend I attended the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual International Conference. This was the first time it was held entirely online! It was unprecedented! ( I think that is the most used word for 2020 so far! ) There were so many excellent speakers and an abundance of helpful information shared. The goal of this blog is to share snippets of what I learned and was inspired by.
What the heck is Functional Medicine anyway? Is that the same as integrative Medicine, or complementary medicine or even alternative medicine? They all have their own focus and also have things in common. Here is the explanation from the Institute for Functional Medicine website: (www.ifm.org ). “Functional Medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.” The importance of this model is that it is individualized and science based. The patient is involved in their own care. It focuses on the root cause rather than just symptoms. This model looks at the systems of the body and how they are interconnected instead of looking at the body as separate parts with limited connection to each other.
Here are some brief snippets from the conference:
Jeffrey Bland, PhD: COVID-19 challenge: Resilience is an important factor in infectious disease. All disease is a result of disordered function. The immune system is dynamic, making millions of new white cells, red cells and platelets every 10 seconds. As we age, our immune function declines. Future of public health should be focused on precision individual health. We need to help our bodies be more resilient.
Nathan Price, PhD: Predictive Biomarkers: Most disease worldwide now is chronic rather than infectious. (other than the current pandemic of course) Our focus should be more on prevention earlier in the disease progression. A healthy gut microbiome is hard to define. What goes on in our gut can influence every other system in our body. In people with a high genetic risk for ALS, Omega 3 fats increase the risk of degeneration. In the majority of people omega 3 fats are anti-inflammatory and protective, but not in this group for unclear reasons. www.isbscience.org Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle. This site also has STEM resources for your kids!
Lara Mangravite, PhD: Smart devices, tracking health: https://sagebionetworks.org. One interesting device for remote monitoring is called Propeller. https://www.propellerhealth.com. It is a way to help you manage your asthma or COPD with your doctor by monitoring when you have flare ups and what might be causing them. With the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale the patient can self monitor with their cell phone. The app is called UPDRS and is in the apple App Store.
Christopher Gardner, PhD: What to Eat? Haven’t we all asked this question? Carnivore, keto, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, paleo, ancestral and many more! Yikes! As Dr. Gardner said “Uniquely Complex”. Michael Pollan writes: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” The foundation of our eating plan: more vegetables, more whole food, less added sugar, less refined grains and less processed food. If you eat grains, they should be whole intact grains. If you eat meat, eat organic pasture raised, not feed lot meat. The goal is to eat the foundational diet plus personalization. And let’s all get along if we eat differently! So helpful!
Jason Fung, MD: New Paradigm of Insulin Resistance: The old paradigm would say that our cells become resistant to insulin at the receptor, so glucose can’t move into the cell even with enough insulin in the blood, resulting in too much glucose in our blood stream. Dr. Fung shared the overflow paradigm. There is too much glucose in the cell. The receptor is normal and insulin is normal but the cell is too full with glucose so by giving more insulin you just make the diabetes worse. More insulin cannot shove move glucose into a cell that is too full. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. The answer is to get glucose out of the cell. Diabetics on a 600cal/day diet for 8 weeks had a decrease in fasting blood sugar, decrease in fatty liver, and improved insulin resistance. An increase in ALT in the blood is an indication that the liver is full of fat. Low carb eating and intermittent fasting helps burn off fat in cells.
Books:” The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss” Jason Fung, MD
“The Complete Guide to Fasting” Jason Fung, MD
Kurt Hong, MD, PhD: Fasting and Fasting Mimicking: Definitions- chronic calorie restriction is 1200cal for women, 1500cal for men. Prolonged fasting- water only for 2 days to weeks. Intermittent fasting can be alternate day feeding, or 5:2 meaning you fast with 500cal or less on 2 days out of the week and eat a healthy meal plan 5 days of the week. Time restricted eating- avoid any intake for 14-20 hours 4-5 days of the week. Fasting mimicking diet- 5 days of plant based food/month with each day eating 800-1000cal/day. Prolon is a commercially available plan that supports this way of eating. https://prolonfmd.com Fasting slows down the aging process. Ketosis improves neurogenesis.
Stephen Phinney, MD: Effects of Nutritional Ketosis on Inflammation and Type 2 Diabetes. Remote continuous care that is app based has been helpful in managing diabetic patients. Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are more readily available and give great feedback to patients so they see how specific foods affect their blood glucose. A low carb diet is generally less than 30% of total calories in a day. Typical ketogenic diet is: protein 15-20% of calories, carbs 5-10% and fat 70-75%. This translates to 30grams of carbs, 1.2-2gms/kg of protein and fat to satiety. A ketone called beta-hydroxybutyrate is a superior energy supply and inhibits inflammatory gene expression. Diabetes is an inflammatory disease.
Whew! That was just Day 1! I learned so much. Look for Part 2 soon when I share snippets from Day 2 of the conference.
Additional Resource:
Functional Medicine Coaching Academy- https://functionalmedicinecoaching.org an excellent online certified health coach program
Disclaimer: This blog is intended for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult your health care provider if you have specific questions regarding your own circumstances.