Over the past 35 years that I have worked in the health field (as a biochemistry and medical school professor, researcher, lecturer, founder of the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991 along with my wife Susan, and most recently as President and Chief Science Officer of a global nutritional products company), one of the questions I most often hear is: "If you only had one therapy for improving health what would it be?"
Over the past three decades, I have had the privilege of knowing and learning from some of the most innovative leaders in the medicine and biological sciences. In fact, as I review the researchers and clinicians that I have interviewed over the past 27 years as part of my monthly audio newsletter Functional Medicine Update (www.jeffreybland.com), I have come to recognize the incredible gift that I have received from knowing these leaders in the field, and how much impact they have had on my thinking about the future of our health care system. I have learned of many breakthrough approaches to the management of various chronic illnesses, so picking "one therapy" seems impossible.
But as I have thought about this question at greater length, and particularly in light of the present debate about the future of health care in the United States, I have come to recognize that there is not one, but rather three therapies that stand above the others in helping to reduce the burden of many chronic illnesses.
The criteria I used for selection of these three therapies are based upon the management of the most common signs and symptoms of chronic health problems. These are pain, inflammation and fatigue. The medical names of the disorders associated with these signs and symptoms include the following as examples:
Although none of these conditions are immediately "life threatening," they are common chronic problems that become more troublesome over time if not corrected. These are also conditions that can progress to more serious diseases if not corrected early.
In a pharmacological model each of these conditions would be treated with its own family of medications to manage the symptoms. This often results in people taking several medications, all of which have the potential for adverse side-effects and drug-drug interactions.
In the Functional Medicine model, the clinical approach treats the underlying cause of the signs and symptoms. I have come to recognize that the three principle Functional Medicine therapies that I will summarize are very successful in managing this wide-variety of diagnoses.
These three therapies are:
Given that each of these therapies requires a different set of skills and tools, I want to discuss each of them separately. The first of the three critically important therapies was titled the "Four R Program" for gastrointestinal restoration by our group in 1995.
If I had only one clinical tool to teach doctors how to become successful with, it would be this therapy. Any person who suffers from symptoms such as chronic fatigue, pain and low energy that is accompanied by digestive problems is a candidate for a twelve week application of the Four R Program. We have found that in most people with chronic symptoms twelve weeks is a good target for the time it takes to restore proper physiological function.
The Four R Program stands for the four steps in the management of the patient: These steps are:
So how is the Four R Program applied?
Remove Phase: In this phase the patient removes the common allergy-producing foods including grains containing gluten and dairy products. A low allergy potential diet utilizing rice-based products, legumes, fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry is prescribed. If the patient is suffering from chronic infections of the sinus, oral cavity or intestinal tract, these are treated. The exposure to toxic chemicals and toxic metals such as mercury is also eliminated.
Replace Phase: While removing the substances that might disrupt the function of the immune system, the patient is evaluated for their sufficiency of digestive enzymes and proper stomach acid. The best "test" is whether the person can properly digest a normal meal without complaints of bloating, gas formation, or reflux. If this is a problem the Functional Medicine doctor will recommend the use of digestive aids such as digestive enzymes to be taken along with meals.
Reinoculate Phase: In order to improve intestinal immune function and thereby improve whole body function, the patient will be prescribed a combination of a therapeutic dose of a well researched and medically documented probiotic (3-5 billion live organisms). The most well-researched probiotics are specific strains of acidophilus and bifidus bacteria that are normal inhabitants of a healthy intestinal tract. The probiotics are recommended to be taken along with a prebiotic supplement such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides or arabinogalactans. Prebiotics are specific food fibers that are used by the friendly probiotic organisms as their 'food" in the intestinal tract to improve their therapeutic value. This reinoculation phase of the Four R Program should be done in escalating doses over a two week period to allow the intestinal tract to adjust. If the dose of the probiotics and prebiotic is increased too quickly it can result in excessive intestinal gas formation and discomfort.
Repair Phase: After two weeks on the reinoculate probiotics and probiotics supplement, the patient then adds additional nutrient supplements to promote proper repair of the intestinal lining. These supplements include the amino acid L-glutamine (6-10 grams per day), pantothenic acid (500-1000 mg per day), zinc citrate (10 mg per day), omega 3 EPA/fish oil (1-3 grams per day), vitamin E as mixed tocopherols (400 mg per day), and the amino acid glycine (6-10 grams per day).
This regimen is followed for a total of 12 weeks during which time signs and symptoms are evaluated weekly. A practitioner that is skilled in the application of the Four R Program will modify the specifics of the program to meet the needs of the specific patient. Over the past 15 years that we have been applying this program and teaching it to doctors around the world through the training programs of the Institute for Functional Medicine (www.functionalmedicine.org) it has resulted in tens of thousands of positive outcomes in patients who suffer from many health problems that have resulted from alterations of immune system function and increased inflammation. More detailed information about the specific application of this program can be gotten from The Textbook of Functional Medicine available from the Institute for Functional Medicine.
In my next blog, I will discuss my other two "favorite" therapies for managing chronic health complaints.
We are lucky to have you, Dr Weil, Dr Hyman, and so many others giving us such great information and here at Huffpost.
Here's a company that makes the powder;
http://www.whitepowdergold.com/
Here's testimonials;
http://www.whitepowdergold.com/testimonials.sht
I'd also like your opinion for this most extraordinary, if true, matter.
Suppressed Medical Discovery that cures most chronic disease, even some cancer by Dr. Robert C. Beck:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3383948315844437935&q
My friend also ordered some of these electric boxes for testing. The phone number to order is in the video & so are schematics to make your own which I think adds credibility.
I hope all this is real. If it's not, it's very convincing.
I asked Sermo & AMA doctors who were posting here at HuffPo about this but not one had a thing to say positive or negative. In fact both blogs stopped dead in their tracks as you can see;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr.-daniel-palestrant/the-biggest-risk-to-us-ph_b_229068.html?show_comment_id=27532204#comment_27532204
&
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr.-daniel-palestrant/why-physicians-always-get_b_238138.html
What do you people reading here think?
I heard the history of silver colloidal is that before they invented penicillin, silver colloidal was what they used. I know many people that swear by it & use it for all kinds of ailments & benefit. They say it's simple to make your own & kind of expensive to buy it in the health stores.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/10/paul-karason-bule-man-sti_n_281797.html
I always said, "Science fact would have to be stranger than any science fiction we could imagine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_epz_b3tkMM&feature=related
Jim Marrs is the speaker & this is who he is;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marrs
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/clark.html
I don't doubt amazing and belivable, but not true. I don't know about the gold, but ingesting heavy metals is in general bad for you.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/DiseasesIndex/DiseasesIndex
http://www.cdc.gov/diseasesConditions/
"They" used to say MS was all in the mind of those afflicted. Epilepsy wasn't a "real" medical condition. Etc. Etc.
Considering 50% of dental amalgam, the so called dental "silver fillings" is mercury it is inconceivable that the FDA does not ban the use of it. A true risk analysis might prompt the truth to the front pages and raise public awareness about the harm caused by" silver fillings". The FDA feigns few reports on record reporting harm caused by these fillings; yet how many health care professionals actually consider the exposure as a source of harm and report the reaction as mercury exposure from dental amalgam?
I have enjoyed working with you over the last 15 + years. Your work has helped me help so many others. Now my patients have a new resource!
Dr. Krahl, D.C.
How changing the diet, eating bacteria then dosing oneself up with an unappetising list of chemicals will make you better is unexplained, but the science-y feel might slip that under your radar
All of this I could happily ignore if there were some kind of measurement of outcomes, but if patients are ever objectively cured forever (one potential outcome measure!), then Dr Bland doesn't say. I think he _may_ have this data for $60 on his webpage http://www.jeffreybland.com//Products.aspx?Category=8
Not a sniff of a peer reviewed journal here ...
Most people here don't need no stinking facts. LOL
Remembering this, I'm reminded how skeptical I am about dietary causes of some health problems. Surely, there are food allergies in some cases, but I don't believe diet it the answer to everything.
Back in that decade, I also tried Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and whatever else offered hope. Now I simply try to eat healthfully and use the few medications that alleviate the various symptoms better than others. I've been on SSDisability for over a decade now and am trying to exist well below the poverty level. It is not easy and is a cause of great stress -- which of course, does not help at all.
If there is an answer, I'd be happy to learn of it.
Have any cooking tips?
It is always a pleasure to see anyone talking about functional foods and nutrition's role in overall health.
It is even better to see you recommending a prebiotic to ensure/enhance probiotics. At Prebiotin.com, we like to say taking a probiotic without a prebiotic is rather like putting down grass seed, then not watering it!
One minor issue: I'm pretty sure you mean "inulin" not "insulin" when you give examples of some prebiotics. I should hate to think someone would interpret that literally and take insulin for digestive health benefits!
Regards,
Kristian Chronister
.
And the FIFTH R is RELAX!! Breathing diaphragmatically to up regulate the parasympathetic nervous system is an important R to include.
BTW I support The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians: Physicians Who Listen
http://www.naturopathic.org/