the future of functional medicine

1. Advancements in Personalized Medicine

The future of functional medicine holds the promise of even more personalized and precision-based healthcare. With advancements in genetics, omics sciences (such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), and technology, functional medicine practitioners can expect to have increasingly precise tools for understanding an individual's unique health profile. This personalized approach allows for tailored treatment plans that take into account an individual's genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environmental factors.1

2. Integrative Collaboration in Healthcare

The future of functional medicine is likely to involve greater collaboration with conventional medicine and other complementary disciplines. As functional medicine gains recognition and acceptance, there may be increased integration with conventional healthcare systems. This collaborative approach can result in a more comprehensive and holistic healthcare system that combines the strengths of various medical modalities, ultimately benefiting patients.2

3. Reversing Health Changes, Epigenetic Insights, and Transforming Healthcare

Functional Medicine recognizes the potential to reverse changes in our body's function. As we age, 80% of our health is influenced by our lifestyle and environment, while only 20% is due to our genes. This means that our choices, environment, and behavior play a crucial role in our health.3

Excitingly, we can even rejuvenate our aging genes, known as the epigenome.4 The epigenome also predicts our health and lifespan.5 In the future, emerging technologies will allow us to measure epigenomic changes and understand their impact on health. We'll be able to catch health issues early and assess the success of interventions aimed at enhancing resilience.1

We will soon be able to measure and analyze the complex patterns that are associated with functional changes in our health, and this information will allow us to intervene at the earliest stages of dysfunction, which will in turn have the greatest impact on long-term health outcomes. We will even be able to assess the state of our epigenetic imprintome, and therefore follow the success of interventions designed to increase resilience and organ reserve.6

These discoveries are guiding the evolution of Functional Medicine into a compassionate, science-based system supporting health at various levels, from the societal down to the molecular level.1

References:

1. Bland, J., & Hyman, M. (2015). The Future of Functional Medicine: A Report from the Institute for Functional Medicine. Integrative Medicine (Encinitas), 14(6), 16-22.

2. Jones, D. S., Quinn, S., et al. (2017). The Future of Integrative Medicine. In D. Rakel (Ed.), Integrative Medicine (4th ed.). Elsevier.

3. Jirtle, R. L. (2022). The Science of Hope: An interview with Randy Jirtle. Epigenomics, 14(6), 299–302. doi:10.2217/epi-2022-0048.

4. Zhang, W., Qu, J., Liu, G-H., Belmonte, J. C. (2020). The ageing epigenome and its rejuvenation. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 21(3), 137–150. doi:10.1038/s41580-019-0204-5.

5. Gadd, D. A., Hillary, R. F., McCartney, D. L., Zaghlool, S. B., Stevenson, A. J., Cheng, Y., et al. (2022). Epigenetic scores for the circulating proteome as tools for disease prediction. eLife, 11. doi:10.7554/elife.71802. 

6. Bland J. S. (2021). A Discovery that Reframes the Whole of Global Healthcare in the 21st Century: The Importance of the Imprintome. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 20(4), 18–22.