#06 - Functional Medicine - Managing Disease or Promoting Health?

Human Regeneration Project

What sounds better to you: waiting until you get sick, visiting your doctor and trying to manage the disease, or taking a proactive approach and optimizing your health, to try to prevent the disease from ever taking hold?

Dr.Sam van Eeden, a functional medicine practitioner, speaks about his approach to preventing and managing the illnesses and metabolic diseases that have become so prevalent in modern society, like heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes, his views on the issues with the current healthcare system, and explains what functional medicine actually involves, as a concept and a practical treatment format, touching on the importance of considerations like proper nutrition and lifestyle, and treatments like IV vitamin therapy.

3.03 - How is functional medicine sometimes interpreted?

4.14 - Functional medicine is science and evidence based practice.

6.10 - Functional Medicine is a study of external factors and the ability of the body to adapt to those factors.

15.10 The World Health Organization did a study about the link between statins and a reduction in cardiac surgery, but this is not entirely relevant any more.

17.00 - It's not no longer accepted that statins decrease heart disease.

17.47 - Does Dr.Sam think people are being kept sick for profit?

18.48 - Insurance companies are happy to pay for disease management but not for disease prevention.

20.28 - Dr.Sam illustrates the problem with modern healthcare using a Bell Curve.

22.45 - The individual has to make the call about their own health.

27.40 - Cannabis is a good example of change affected from the bottom up.

28.10 - In Canada a doctor can prescribe cannabis as part of a supervised treatment protocol.

35.30 - Health screens generally test for current issues, not future ones.

37.20 - The absence of disease does not indicate the presence of health.

37.50 - Are men and women both tested the same?

40.12 - Are men or women better at making moves and decisions regarding their own health?

45.10 - People are revolting against chemicals and drugs.

48.00 - We know statins don't change the requirements for cardiac surgery, but the current medical guidelines have not changed to reflect this.

49.20 - Cholesterol is like a firetruck responding to a fire, statins stop the firetruck but not the fire. Inflammation is the fire, in the endothelial cells.

51.00 - It's not just about the LDL levels tested, it's more about the levels of inflammation in the blood vessel cells.

56.00 - It's about reducing systemic inflammation in the body.

57.10 - Taking statins can prevent further plaques from forming, but there's no evidence to suggest it helps plaques already formed.

58.05 - Things like Lecithin, Phosphatidylcholine etc can reduce these plaques.

1.00.12 - There is no link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels.

1.07.00 - The fast food industry in the UK has grown by 56% over the last 3 years.

1.15.30 - What are IV bars and how do they differ from functional medicine clinics?

1.17.30 - the body is very good at identifying the nutrients it needs through craving and hunger.

1.25.10 - High dose IV vitamin therapy introduces huge amounts of electrons to stabilize free radicals.

1.29.40 - It's up to the individual to investigate the options for their own health.

1.31.00 - IV Therapy bypasses the gastrointestinal system.

1.34.00 - It's important to do IV therapy in the context of a guided and tested approach to get maximum benefit.

Check out our previous podcast about Taking Control of Your Health and Wellness with Eoin Lacey