What is Environmental Medicine?

Environmental medicine looks at nutritional status, genetic polymorphisms and environmental exposure sources when determining how best to support health recovery and prevent future illness. This form of medicine is particularly relevant in this current era. My doctoral thesis was about this critical time when we are facing health issues exacerbated by exposure to contaminated soil, air, water, food, among much else. One of the many reasons I appreciate this medicine is the emphasis on self-empowerment: what can we do to enhance our health and reduce our toxic body burden starting today? What can we stop using that is harming us, or start using that will help us to have an improved quality of life?

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is naturopathic medicine principles for allopathic physicians to use to optimize nutritional status and support wellness in their patients. Functional in that it looks at enhancing health, not just at the point where disease has begun.

What do Environmental and Functional Medicine have in common and how to they differ?

These medicine systems are both rooted in naturopathic principles and emphasize many natural methods for restoring health. These include optimizing nutritional status through a healthy and organic diet, the use of supplements and herbals, and supporting detoxification through use of sauna, hydrotherapy, colonic irrigation and other methods. From my perspective, environmental medicine goes an additional step to glean if there are sources of exposure that will continue to be an issue, and how to  to determine the cause, or causes, of the health issue wanting resolution.

The late Dr. Walter Crinnion, N.D. is certainly one of the major pioneers of this field, and his book, co-written with Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., Clinical Environmental Medicine: Identification and Natural Treatment of Disease Caused by Common Pollutants, is the best book for clinicians I have seen on the topic. Dr. Lyn Patrick, N.D. is an incredible teacher and researcher of this medicine, and offers training for primary care providers. Here is the website: https://emeiglobal.com/about/