The evolution of Nutrition - The result after Functional-Medicinal and Nutritional Intervention
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine is personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease. It is a science-based field of health care that is grounded in the following principles:
Biochemical individuality describes the importance of individual variations in metabolic function that derive from genetic and environmental differences among individuals.
Patient-centered medicine emphasizes "patient care" rather than "disease care," following Sir William Osler’s admonition that "It is more important to know what patient has the disease than to know what disease the patient has."
Dynamic balance of internal and external factors.
Web-like interconnections of physiological factors – an abundance of research now supports the view that the human body functions as an orchestrated network of interconnected systems, rather than individual systems functioning autonomously and without effect on each other. For example, we now know that immunological dysfunctions can promote cardiovascular disease, that dietary imbalances can cause hormonal disturbances, and that environmental exposures can precipitate neurologic syndromes such as Parkinson’s disease.
Health as a positive vitality – not merely the absence of disease.
Promotion of organ reserve as the means to enhance health span.
Functional medicine is anchored by an examination of the core clinical imbalances that underlie various disease conditions. Those imbalances arise as environmental inputs such as diet, nutrients (including air and water), exercise, and trauma are processed by one’s body, mind, and spirit through a unique set of genetic predispositions, attitudes, and beliefs. The fundamental physiological processes include communication, both outside and inside the cell; bioenergetics, or the transformation of food into energy; replication, repair, and maintenance of structural integrity, from the cellular to the whole body level; elimination of waste; protection and defense; and transport and circulation. The core clinical imbalances that arise from malfunctions within this complex system include:
Hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances
Oxidation-reduction imbalances and mitochondropathy
Detoxification and biotransformational imbalances
Immune imbalances
Inflammatory imbalances
Digestive, absorptive, and microbiological imbalances
Structural imbalances from cellular membrane function to the musculoskeletal system
Imbalances such as these are the precursors to the signs and symptoms by which we detect and label (diagnose) organ system disease. Improving balance – in the patient’s environmental inputs and in the body’s fundamental physiological processes – is the precursor to restoring health and it involves much more than treating the symptoms. Functional medicine is dedicated to improving the management of complex, chronic disease by intervening at multiple levels to address these core clinical imbalances and to restore each patient’s functionality and health. Functional medicine is not a unique and separate body of knowledge. It is grounded in scientific principles and information widely available in medicine today, combining research from various disciplines into highly detailed yet clinically relevant models of disease pathogenesis and effective clinical management.
Functional medicine emphasizes a definable and teachable process of integrating multiple knowledge bases within a pragmatic intellectual matrix that focuses on functionality at many levels, rather than a single treatment for a single diagnosis. Functional medicine uses the patient’s story as a key tool for integrating diagnosis, signs and symptoms, and evidence of clinical imbalances into a comprehensive approach to improve both the patient’s environmental inputs and his or her physiological function. It is a clinician’s discipline, and it directly addresses the need to transform the practice of primary care.
From http://www.functionalmedicine.org
Dr. Bryce's on Functional Medicine
Replenishing the system...
The degradation of our gastrointestinal environment is one of the primary points at which our health can be lost. What we now know is that the toxins associated with gastrointestinal dysfunction are frequently absorbed and distributed to other parts of the body. The first thing they do is place a burden on the liver and the immune system. If liver overload occurs, there’s going to be spillover, whereby some of the toxins will be passed on to other organs or tissues. This translates into an increasing free radical burden and an increasing need for antioxidants. Detoxification is step one. We'll show you how. And, if necessary, once you have detoxified, you'll need to replenish.
There are three principles we follow if pursuing the regeneration of a detoxified system.
1. We use probiotics and enzymes to encourage better digestion and assimilation of foods.
2. We employ occasional high supplementation doses, followed by regular and established therapeutic doses, of essential fatty acids for improved cell function.
3. We employ single amino acid therapy for the formation of ideal body composition and to increase protection against free radical damage.
The need for regeneration originates from a crucial functional medicine nutrition concept. The frequent malfunction of the digestive and liver detoxification processes, and/or the quality of ingested foods requires that we occasionally aid the body in replenishing certain items at high therapeutic amounts in order to ensure optimal function.
As we’ve discussed, illness can be directly related to problems of the liver detoxification systems and their related influence on immune, nervous and endocrine function and/or nutritional selections in one's diet. Therefore, if we address the health of both the digestive and liver detoxification systems, the body is given the opportunity to reverse almost all degenerative conditions. If the degenerative condition is labelled, for example, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes or arthritis, a good functional medical doctor, homeopathic or naturopathic doctor will first recommend addressing the health of the detoxification and digestive systems (overall gastrointestinal tract). Once the liver detoxification systems are cleared, then the gastrointestinal (GI) tract should be supported and strengthened.
Probiotics...
As the name suggests, probiotics are “for life.” They are your friendly neighbourhood gut bacteria—the stuff you want in your body. Whereas antibiotics kill harmful as well as beneficial bacteria, probiotics in supplement form replenish the beneficial bacteria. Whenever you take antibiotics, have diarrhea or an upset stomach or some type of food poisoning, make sure to take a therapeutic dose of probiotics for anywhere between two weeks to two months, depending on the severity of your symptoms.
Sixty to 80 per cent of our front-line immune system is found in our gut (known as Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue - GALT), where trillions of good bacteria live—good because we need them and good because, for the most part, they cannot cause infection unless they are allowed to escape our gut and enter our bloodstream. These probiotics are cultures of beneficial bacteria that are normally present in a healthy digestive tract. They include L. acidophilus, B. bifidus, L. planetarium, L. salivarius, L. bulgaricus and L. casei. When these little guys are upset, so too is your immune system.
For over a century, probiotic bacteria—specifically species of the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria genera—have been recognized as potential therapeutic agents. Recently, numerous clinical studies suggest that these bacterial inhabitants of the human GI tract play an important role in the dietary management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and chronic degenerative conditions. Such insidious ailments lead inevitably to alarming increases of free radicals in the digestive tract.
Not all probiotics are equivalent in terms of efficacy. Different probiotic preparations contain different bacterial strains and concentrations. For any probiotic to be effective it must have a high count (in the hundreds of billions of cells) of living bacteria and be able to survive the journey down the GI tract into the colon. The choice of functional strains of micro-organisms is based on criteria established by the scientific community. They must be:
• of human origin,
• resistant to stomach acidity and bile salts,
• able to adhere to human intestinal cells,
• able to colonize (even temporarily) the human intestine,
• able to mitigate pathogenic bacteria,
• able to produce antimicrobial substances,
• possessing of immune-balancing (“modulating”) properties, and
• proven safe for use by humans.
If you end up following a detoxification program we outline for you we would likely go on to recommend replenishment by taking about 400 billion probiotic bacteria twice daily following your meals for two weeks. Your probiotics should be broad spectrum (composed of many different strains). Some good studies are showing that probiotics survive more effectively and for longer in your gut if you also take “prebiotics,” that is, simply foods that the probiotics thrive on. Examples are whole grains, onions, bananas, garlic, honey, leeks and artichokes.
Digestive Enzymes...
You can't deal with the end-stage problem of free radical burden until you have treated the underlying causes, such as malfunctions in digestion. You are what you eat, but even more important, you become what you absorb.
Enzymes are manufactured in our digestive tracts from the moment we think about or smell food. Hydrochloric acid is made in our stomach and digests protein; pancreatic enzymes are manufactured in our pancreas and digest starches, sugars and certain proteins; bile is produced in the liver and held in the gall bladder and is responsible for breaking down fats.
When we eat a heavy restaurant meal or our mother’s famous meat loaf and afterwards it feels like a brick in our stomach, odds are we aren’t producing enough enzymes to break down that food. That’s when supplemental enzymes can help. But when we employ enzymes in capsule form as supplements, their effects can and should last weeks to months, depending on the health challenges they must confront.
Enzymes also have a broad variety of specific therapeutic applications as anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and antithrombolytic agents, and as replacements for metabolic deficiencies. Here are a few.
Proteolytic enzymes have been widely used as anti-inflammatory and antiedema agents. In clinical practice, I use a brand called Wobenzym-N, and patients report wonderful results, with many of their digestive challenges resolved and even arthritis pain gone.
Papain enzyme derives from the pineapple. In capsular form, it has been shown to produce marked reduction of obstetrical inflammation and swelling and of the edema following dental surgery.
Deoxyribonuclease, an enzyme that degrades nucleic acid, has recently been investigated as a mucous-thinning agent for use in patients with chronic bronchitis. Although effective in producing liquefaction of secretions, it offers no advantage over more commonly recommended agents such as the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine.
The enzyme lysozyme breaks down bacterial cell walls. Accordingly, it has been used as an antibacterial agent, usually in combination with standard antibiotics.
The proteolytic enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin (both of which are in Wobenzym-N), have been successfully used in the treatment of postoperative trauma, athletic injuries and sciatica.
Hyaluronidase exerts action by allowing diffusion of vital molecules through the barrier of normally impermeable connective tissue in joint tissue.
A good broad-spectrum digestive enzyme is one that provides 1,000,000 USP units or more of protease activity, 5,000 USP units or more of amylase activity and 1,000 USP units or more of lipase activity. Even if you haven’t tried the cleanse, take two capsules with every meal for two months and see if you experience better digestion and improved energy.
Essential Fatty Acids...
The benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are endless, but these essential fats have a too little known short-term and crucial role to play.
Toxins can affect any part of us. However, their toxic influence may be greatest on our brains and nervous systems. After a detoxification program, I recommend you increase your daily dose of fish oils for a few weeks. Fish oils at this dose are what I refer to as gut rehab and brain juice. Taking therapeutic doses for two weeks will not only have a rehabilitative effect on your liver and blood, but will also help improve the quality of stool and generally “Draino” the pipes.
Single Amino Acid Therapy
This can be an extremely important part of replenishment. The lining of your gut is where your body selects foods for absorption and certain amino acids have a natural ability to repair the gut lining. These are glutamine, arginine and cysteine in the form of N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Glutamine has the ability to “astringe” the mucous membrane of the intestine and restore it to its proper selective-absorption state. NAC together with L-arginine and C-glutamine alleviate many cases of inflammatory bowel syndrome by promoting the healing of colon inflammation and resolving a condition know as “leaky gut syndrome” (which has been gaining recent attention for causing food allergies and intolerances)
Regenerating...
Following the removal of toxins and the replenishment of crucial probiotics, we embark upon the third R, regeneration, that is, short-term antioxidant support—therapeutic intervention that targets the body’s cells. Because individual requirements have a strong bearing on this sort of therapy, you must test your urine in order to determine the dosages that are ideal for you at this stage.
My antioxidant test accurately measures how effectively antioxidants in your diet and inherent in your body have neutralized free radicals during your detox routine. The antioxidant urine test returns results scored from levels 1 to 5. Level 1 is the lowest, and is a great result to see. Level 2 is low, and means you’re doing well but could do even better. Levels 3-5 are medium, high and very high: you’ve got some work to do in neutralizing the free radical attack that is currently under way in your body, and you need fairly heavy antioxidant support.
Regeneration is not the last step. As we move on to the final R, repair—the basis of a lifetime regimen— we will create a customized plan for you that ensures you are in constant and automatic repair.
Repairing...
Our bodies are in a continuous process of damage and repair. Even when we’ve completed a therapeutic regeneration cycle, we constantly need cellular repair and maintenance. The essential question is this: How much supplementation?
A Customized Antioxidant Supplement Program...
Practitioners of functional and natural medicine increasingly understand that antioxidant nutrients do more than prevent classical deficiency diseases and help the young to grow and the old to maintain. They protect against most diseases associated with aging. As we have seen, they may protect against nearly all disease.
The idea that you can enjoy better health through the use of antioxidant supplements is difficult for many to accept. It seems that nature should provide for all of our needs. The operative word here is “needs.” For what? Procreation? Average health? Maximum lifespan free of disease? Because few of us are afflicted with what I affectionately call the “George Burns syndrome”—abuse your health and live to a hundred—our more average genes need antioxidant nutrients in high amounts to protect us against cellular and genetic damage that leads to disease and shortened lives.
Since recommended daily intake (RDI) levels for various nutrients are obtained by extrapolating data from short-term laboratory animal experiments based on normal growth rates, and since RDI is intended to suggest the needs for “average” health for the “average” person, RDIs have little relevance to optimal daily allowance (ODA) for health and longevity. Anyway, few of us manage even the recommended daily intake levels, and even if we do make a tremendous effort to eat a fruit- and veggie-filled diet, these foods no longer contain the antioxidants they once did.
ODAs attempt to take into account our nutritional needs for the optimization of our immune systems, the prevention of cancer and heart disease, and a whole lot more. Put it this way, when it comes to vitamin C, we’re not looking to avoid scurvy with 60 mg/day (the RDI of vitamin C); we’re looking to optimize our immune systems with thousands of milligrams per day (ODA of vitamin C). Let me go further. If we consume less than optimal ranges (ODA) of the antioxidant nutrients, we run the risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis and anything else our genetic predispositions can dish out. Respected studies have shown that even if we eat well and take a simple multivitamin/mineral supplement, our risk of disease is not so very different from those who take no multivitamins whatsoever!
In a well rounded supplement program, we would employ therapeutic-range supplementation to achieve optimal health. In the course of doing this, we may also perform a further antioxidant assessment by testing your blood free radical levels. From there, a we woul be able to tailor you an antioxidant prescription.
Let us know how we can help...
Cheers to great health!
- Bryce Wylde
Click here for some general outlines on Functional-Medicinal Nutrition (found on our patients downloads page)
