The Academy of Functional Medicine
and Genomics

presents

The Functional Medicine
Professional Education Program

Next Session Starts in May 2013

Module 3

Laboratory Evaluations

The primary text book which is used in the course is Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine by Richard S. Lord and J. Alexander Bralley.

Students receive a discount off the $200 price.

Over 3800 citations make this book your evidence-based resource for the biochemical basis of chronic illness. A must-have desk reference for laboratory testing associated with nutritional and metabolic medicine.

Metametrix
Handbook

The Metametrix Handbook is a clinical reference manual that can help with interpretation of test results, development of treatment plans for patients, identification of possible causes of symptoms and conditions, and more. This pocket guide is a must-have companion to the in-depth Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine 2nd edition textbook.

Enroll Today

Call: 888-632-6938

Course Format

"Live" training webinars with case presentations and discussion
Didactic training using Laboratory Evaluations book mentioned above
24/7 access to previously recorded Academy webinars

Program Fees

(This includes the "Live" Webinars)

Each Module is two months duration (similar to 1 Chapter in textbook)

Payment Options:

1) One time $399
or
2) Two payments of $210 month

NOTE: Link to pay the fee >>> Payment Option

Certificates can be awarded for each Module completed if you wish.

For more information - Phone: 888-632-6938

Modules

There are 12 teaching Modules of 2 months each which make up the 24 month Academy course. The text book above is used plus additional material presented in the webinars. All sessions are recorded and you will be able to access them at any time 24/7. A summary of the Modules is listed below.

Module 1
Basic Concepts of Functional Medicine

Many successes in medicine within the last century have also given rise to new challenges. Enormous advancements in reducing mortality from acute illness and extending life expectancy have given way to an increase in chronic, degenerative diseases among the aging population. The power of antibiotics as a ‘magic bullet’ in treating symptoms and saving lives has to a large degree failed to generate the same success with diseases that are multifactorial in origin and chronic in nature. This also holds true with the improvements in food production that have resulted in processed foods creating low nutrient-to-calorie ratios, and the technological advancements that have created thousands of new chemicals to be released into the environment.

This module will explore how to overcome these new challenges by applying a more holistic and integrative approach that factors the web-like interconnectedness of human metabolism and its relation to the environment. Specifically, it will set the stage for the entire course by exploring biochemical individuality and its influence on the individual need for nutrients, along with the expression of nutrient insufficiency.

Specific Topics include:

Functional Medicine: Basic Concepts and A New Way of Thinking
Case Example: How do you think about Glutathione?
Stages of Development of Nutrient-Insufficiency Diseases
22 Consequences of Chronic Stress and Burnout
Reviewing an Organix Profile and other important lab tests
Reviewing the Citric Acid Cycle (Krebs Cycle)
In-depth look at Vitamins B5, B6 and B12 and their importance in the body

Content from textbook Chapters 1 and 2 is used in Module 1.

Module 2
Vitamins

Deficiencies or mild insufficiencies of vitamins can result in a wide range of negative consequences for human health. Even in developed countries, where caloric and protein intake may be adequate, humans can be depleted as a result of low dietary intake, poor digestion and absorption of nutrients from an otherwise ‘healthy’ diet. Humans can also become depleted due to increased cellular demands for a given nutrient, or medications that affect the absorption or catabolism of vitamins. Genetic factors can also be revealed by abnormalities in laboratory tests of metabolic function owing to effects on enzyme activities or regulatory proteins. This module will review the biochemistry and physiology, assessment and repletion of a variety of essential and conditionally essential vitamins.

Assessment tools, vital to the process, will also be examined. They include the direct measurement in blood, challenge or loading tests, ratios, related hormones, cellular assays, enzyme assays and measurements of amino acid precursors in blood or urine. The direct measurement of vitamins in specimens such as serum that reveals circulating concentrations will also be covered.

Finally, functional markers will be explored as they can reveal whether circulating levels of a given vitamin are adequate to sustain an individual’s metabolic demand for the vitamin.

Module 3
Nutrient and Toxic Elements

Most individuals consuming a standard western diet have significant risk of one or more essential element deficiencies. Hypertension, eczema, neurological abnormalities and pain are only a few of the clinical ramifications of a deficiency of essential elements or toxic metal effects. Most of the top causes of mortality in the United States may be associated with essential element deficiencies. And, symptoms of deficiencies may be vague and difficult to diagnose.

The impact of toxic element exposure is exacerbated by nutrient element deficiencies via a variety of mechanisms. The synergy of multiple toxic element exposures can result in clinical effects that supersede those of a single toxic element exposure. As a result, definitions of safe levels for exposure to toxic elements continue to be lowered.

Treatments for toxic element-burdened patients include minimizing sources of exposure, normalizing routes of elimination, and implementing metabolic support and antioxidant repletion. Additionally, most patients can be guided to dietary and lifestyle practices that will improve their tolerance to toxic elements. Clinical interventions can also help to raise tolerance by focused corrections of nutritional insufficiencies.

In this module, students learn how to conduct laboratory testing that can identify element deficiencies and toxicities by direct measurement of element concentrations in body fluids or tissues, or by measuring biochemical markers that give evidence of the elements metabolic activity, be it toxic or essential.

The first part of this module will concentrate on the general concepts of element metabolism. This will segue into general considerations of specimen and test choice, followed by thorough discussions of each nutrient and toxic element, with an overall emphasis on effective approaches to assessment of individual patient status.

Module 4
Amino Acids in Human Health

Amino acids are central to virtually every function of the human body. Of the 20-amino acids required for synthesis of proteins, nine must be derived from dietary protein because they cannot be produced in human tissues.

The main objective of this module is to explain how laboratory testing can identify patients in need of therapeutic supplementation of essential amino acid mixtures, individual amino acids, or other therapies to correct abnormal amino acid status.

Module 5
Toxicants and Detoxification

The human body is constantly in the presence of potentially harmful agents. It can be argued that any disease process can be caused or complicated by toxic load. Indeed, the health effects of xenobiotic chemicals is drawing increased governmental attention as indicated by the CDC expanding its monitoring of more than 200 foreign chemicals and elements that humans have in their systems. The field of toxicology primarily deals with environmental toxin exposures and detoxification mechanisms.

This module addresses the assessment of overall risk, individual biotransformation capacity and monitoring efficacy of detoxification strategies.

Module 6
Genomics

With the sequencing of the human genome, there has been an explosion of interest in identifying the genetic components of disease processes. The subsequent ability to identify individuals with these genetic tendencies affords medical science a potential new tool to predict, prevent, and intervene in many different illnesses, especially those that are chronic in nature.

This module gives an overview of this emerging field and how routine genomic laboratory assessments may influence integrative, functional medicine now, and in the future.

Module 7
Organic Acids

Unlike amino acids and fatty acids, the category of compounds called organic acids contains no essential nutrients. Instead of directly measuring nutrient concentrations, abnormal concentrations of organic acids provide functional markers for the metabolic effects of micronutrient inadequacies, toxic exposure, neuroendocrine activity, and intestinal bacterial growth. As such, organic acid testing can indicate the functional need for essential or conditionally essential nutrients, diet modification, antioxidant protection, detoxification and other therapies.

Organic acid profiling has also been used in identification of the source of toxicants from the environment and from the gut.

Testing organic acids to assess special nutrient requirements of individuals is discussed in this module in a variety of sources. In addition, each of several compounds reported in the typical profiling of organic acids in urine is discussed to indicate why they are related to several clinical questions.

Module 8
Fatty Acids

Over the past few decades, the relationship between dietary fat and disease has been the subject of much controversy and confusion. Recognition of the importance of specific physiological and toxicological roles for the individual fatty acids that largely constitute dietary fat has been a significant advance. Health issues associated with fatty acids are largely traced to modern dietary habits of low intake for fish, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds plus high intake for processed and manufactured dietary fats.

This module covers the need for laboratory evaluations of fatty acid status and how and why they are helpful in making decisions about dietary modification and/or supplementation with essential fatty acids and/or other nutrients involved in fatty acid metabolism.

Module 9
Hormones and Neurotransmitters

Because of their complex interactions, hormones are not easily ordered into a sequential presentation. The adopted approach favors a quasi-life-cycle topical organization of growth, maintenance and reproduction.

The main endocrine hormones are discussed in this module under the headings of ‘Growth and Homeostasis,’ ‘The Stress Response,’ and ‘The Sex Hormones.’ Each section of this module introduces concepts of master-gland control followed by discussions of hormone function and clinical assessment. Specific hormone coverage is followed by aspects of test selection, hormone delivery, bioidentical hormone therapy and hormonal biotransformation. The final section of this module touches on some other mechanisms of cell control, concluding with the example of cytokine activity in the AKT signaling pathway for apoptosis.

Module 10
Gastrointestinal Function

Proper gastrointestinal function is critical to adequate nutritional status and can impact all aspects of bodily function. Approximately one-third of daily caloric expenditure is required to drive the digestive, assimilative and immune functions while maintaining the gastrointestinal tract. A large amount of the body’s total lymphatic tissue is located in the gut, and the gastrointestinal system is the only organ system of the body with its own independently working lymphatic and nervous systems.

This module covers the non-invasive laboratory evaluations of gastrointestinal function.

Module 11
Cardiovascular Function

In this module, the review of the basis for all chronic disease and disorders, the 12-kinds of dysautonomia or stress is first reviewed. Blood vessels are living tissues and are always subject to degeneration from at least four of these 12-stressors, allergic, infectious, metabolic, and oxidative stress, and regeneration potential can be enhanced with various interventions which reduce the eight commonly known ‘risk factors’ (e.g., cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, etc.) and also at least 25 additional risk factors (CRP, Lp(a), fibrinogen, homocysteine, etc.).

These risk factors are related to stressors and can be reversed or modified. Genetic testing for cardiovascular disorders to eliminate some of the vulnerabilities to these stressor risk factors is also reviewed. Finally, cognitive/emotional stress is addressed by experiencing a few exercises which can be practiced on a daily basis.

Module 12
Pattern Analysis

Clinical situations and cases are presented in this module to illustrate that modern degenerative diseases are of complex origin and the progression of symptoms is dependent on each patient’s history. Complex cases that defy classical diagnosis and therapy may be amenable to molecular medicine approaches that depend on identification of nutrients, toxins, or metabolic controls that are at the root of the problem.

In addition, these complex cases must be approached in a way that restores normal function to cells, tissues, and organs. Simple, safe means such as nutrient supplements, food derivatives, and probiotic organisms, when used in the appropriate levels for a given patient, can restore normality to biochemical processes that control cell function.

And, lastly, laboratory evaluations can identify the interventions that are required for restoration of normal function. The laboratory results allow focused interventions of specific nutrients in doses adjusted according to the severity of the depletion and related metabolic impairment.

The 2nd Edition Textbook publication used in the course includes:

Searchable CD-ROM
672 Pages (12 Chapters)
175 full color graphics and illustrations
80 + case illustrations

You may review the text book on-line >>> Laboratory Evaluations

"Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine is a giant contribution to the field of 21st century medicine. It provides a well-researched roadmap to aid practitioners in evaluating disease along the continuum from pre-clinical biochemical and metabolic dysfunction to full blown clinical symptoms and disease. It is an essential reference for clinicians seeking to practice the medicine of the future today." Mark Hyman, MD

Endorsers

The Academy of Functional Medicine and Genomics