A Too Uncommon Theory of Medicine

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Are your health care providers trained in integrative medicine? It’s not an area of medical specialization, like gynaecology or gastroenterology. Think of it as a theory of medicine.

Doctors practicing integrative medicine respect the roles of prescription drugs and surgery when the situation calls for these treatments. But they also study and embrace the potential for natural remedies, lifestyle modifications, nutrition, and traditional practices in both health promotion and disease treatment.

Hippocrates, born in 460 BC, was the most influential philosopher of integrative medicine. He believed the human body should be treated as a whole, not as the sum of its parts.

Benedict Lust, born in 1872 in Baden, Germany, is regarded as the “Father of Naturopathy”, a form of alternative medicine whose legitimate members promote evidence-based natural remedies.

Then there is Linus Pauling. Through his research, he advanced the prevention and treatment of disease by studying how the body benefits from optimized amounts of substances which are natural to the body. Pauling was a molecular biologist. His practice of orthomolecular medicine acknowledges the body’s biochemical pathways and genetic variabilities that interact with diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, and brain-related conditions.