Explore how Functional Nutrition and medicine address chronic diseases by focusing on personalized, evidence-based dietary and lifestyle solutions to optimize health at the molecular level.
Nutrition is the core modality of functional medicine, an integrative approach to health.
As defined by The Institute for Functional Medicine:
“Functional medicine is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centred focus of medical practice to a more patient-centred approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and evaluating the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex chronic diseases. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.”
Therefore, Functional Nutrition emphasizes the importance of high-quality foods and phytonutrient diversity, combined with the right cooking methods (culinary medicine) and food combination, in order to maximize phytonutrient absorption and address clinical imbalances.
The ultimate goal is to move individuals toward the highest expression of health.
An Advanced nutrition assessment, combined to a thorough functional medicine-based history approach can lead to a personalized therapeutic intervention in order to promote optimal health and prevent diet- and lifestyle-related disease.
Why do you need to implement Functional Nutrition?
The prevalence of complex, chronic diseases is escalating globally (not only in the United Kingdom). In medicine, chronic conditions are distinguished from those that are acute. An acute condition typically affects one portion of the body and responds to treatment. A chronic disease, on the other hand, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is characterized by a long duration, generally slow progression, and not passing from person to person [1]. It usually affects multiple areas of the body, is not fully responsive to treatment, and persists for an extended period of time (usually for more than 3 months). Heart disease and diabetes, functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), cancer, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, mental illness, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), thyroid conditions and other autoimmune disorders are all classified as Chronic conditions and are more and more frequent among the patients. Most chronic diseases are diet- and lifestyle-related conditions, thus requiring dietary and lifestyle solutions.
Good nutrition is essential in keeping current and future generations healthy across the lifespan. Breastfeeding helps protect against childhood illnesses, including ear and respiratory infections, asthma, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). People with healthy eating patterns live longer and are at lower risk for serious health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Healthy eating can help manage these conditions and prevent complications for people with chronic diseases.
In this regard, a major strength of functional nutrition is its focus on the molecular mechanisms that underlie disease, providing the basis for targeted, innovative solutions that can restore health. The interaction between genes and environmental factors ( which is called epigenetics) is a critical component in the development of chronic disease and plays a central role in the functional nutrition approach.
To date, the current healthcare system fails to take into account the unique genetic make up of each individual or the ability of food, toxins, and other environmental factors to influence gene expression. Also, most nutrition professionals are not adequately trained in integrating nutrition assessment at the molecular and cellular levels with emerging research in nutrition and nutritional genomics. These advanced practice skills are essential for preventing and managing today’s chronic disorders.
Dr. Giovanna Maraula
Functional Nutritionist and Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner.
From battling my own health struggles to regaining balance through science and nutrition, my journey led me to create a method that’s transforming lives—naturally.
