The Context Behind My Efforts

An excerpt from The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life by Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland, the father of functional medicine.

Disease is a delusion, one that has been shattered by the still-emerging science of genomics. Breakthrough discoveries over the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade-plus of the twenty-first have demonstrated that your heart disease is not the same as mine, that everyone with type 2 diabetes is not just like everyone else with type 2 diabetes, and that the people with rheumatoid arthritis or Alzheimer's disease are not all similar to others with the same diagnosis.

Rather, these so-called diseases are dysfunctions of each individual's physiological functioning; they are due to varied causes, and they demand treatment approaches as different from one another as are the individuals. So while it may be convenient to group together common signs and symptoms and call them "diseases," that isn't the way to address what's making us sick. It is not the way to think about medical care in the face of a changing pattern of health problems as we live longer lives—but lives that are increasingly limited and burdened by subpar health.

We need a new model of care that will personalize treatment to the individual's particular genetic makeup, environment, lifestyle, and diet. That is what functional medicine does. Grounded in a systems-based understanding of the way the body functions, functional medicine provides the tools we need to change the messages our genes receive so we can shape our own pattern of health. In empowering us to address the chronic illnesses that are the health issue of our time, it is revolutionizing medical practice and changing the face of health care.

— Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland