News & Insights

Recent research suggests that patients are living fewer healthy years. Given the efficacy of lifestyle change to prevent and reverse many health conditions, clinicians trained in sustainable behavior change are already in high demand.

We all know how time consuming it can be to establish and follow through on a plan to eliminate bad habits and engage in better nutrition and exercise—let alone manage condition-specific symptoms. Patients require education, encouragement, and accountability in order to stay well. That’s where health coaching comes in.

Given the strong mind-body/brain-gut connection, it is clear that when the normal integrity of the GI tract is compromised, distant systemic complaints can result, even in the absence of overt GI symptoms. Integrative approaches may be helpful for reducing symptoms and reestablishing a healthy gut and a healthy mind.

A 2018 study provides the first published evidence that lead exposure results in DNA damage via oxidative stress and promoter methylation of DNA repair genes in human cell lines. What other emerging research links lead to undesirable health outcomes?

The role of nutrition in supporting health is undisputed. Vincent Pedre, MD, on an IFM Toolkit item to understand patients’ nutrition patterns.

In many countries, mortality due to atherosclerosis has been decreasing over the decades.¹ Yet atherosclerosis still correlates with very high health risks, including ischemic stroke, and modifiable lifestyle factors play a huge role.^2-3 In the video below, Elizabeth Boham, MD, MS, RD, IFMCP, describes her first steps in working with patients to decrease their cardiometabolic health risks when atherosclerosis is present. 

Assessing cardiometabolic risks has evolved over time. Simultaneously, primary care is still the proposed central hub for evaluating cardiometabolic risks and intervening.^1-3 In the video below, Shilpa P. Saxena, MD, IFMCP, an IFM educator, explains the shift in her thinking for addressing cardiometabolic risk in her patients since medical school.

Assessing cardiometabolic risks has evolved over time. Simultaneously, primary care is still the proposed central hub for evaluating cardiometabolic risks and intervening.^1-3 In a video, Shilpa P. Saxena, MD, IFMCP, an IFM educator, explains the shift in her thinking for addressing cardiometabolic risk in her patients since medical school.

Americans are getting less sleep, with many health consequences. Declining brain health may be one result.

One of the biggest challenges in starting a Functional Medicine practice may be envisioning what success will look like once it is up and running. However, there is a way to get a look inside a successful Functional Medicine practice and have your practice setup questions answered without even leaving your office.

Many clinicians find that a Functional Medicine approach shifts their intellectual and emotional relationship with medicine. In this video, David Blyweiss, MD, shares why he thinks that is so.