Dr. Tom Biernacki, DPM, FACFAS 
Quick answer: The global dietary supplement industry surpassed $177 billion in 2023, yet a landmark 2018 analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine found that most common supplements showed no benefit for all-cause mortality — while a subset (omega-3, vitamin D, and magnesium) showed significant benefit, and others (calcium supplementation without vitamin D) showed potential harm. … Read more
Quick answer: Approximately 40% of all cancer cases in the United States are attributable to modifiable risk factors — including smoking, excess body weight, physical inactivity, alcohol use, poor diet, environmental exposures, and chronic infections — according to a landmark 2018 analysis by Islami et al. in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. This means … Read more
Quick answer: Americans carry an average of 91 synthetic chemicals in their blood and urine at any given time, including 29 known carcinogens, 37 neurotoxins, and 21 endocrine disruptors, according to biomonitoring data from the CDC’s National Exposure Report. Environmental medicine — the investigation and treatment of illness driven by toxic exposures — is one … Read more
Quick answer: Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) affects an estimated 3–8 million women in the United States, yet the average time from symptom onset to correct diagnosis exceeds 5 years, during which most patients undergo multiple ineffective antibiotic courses for what is presumed to be recurrent bacterial UTI. Functional medicine identifies IC, recurrent UTIs, and … Read more
Quick answer: More than 50 million Americans live with autoimmune disease — making it the third most common category of illness after cardiovascular disease and cancer — yet conventional medicine still treats each condition as a separate mystery. Functional medicine identifies a shared root-cause triad: genetic susceptibility + environmental trigger + intestinal permeability. Fasano’s landmark … Read more
Quick answer: The rate of childhood chronic illness has increased dramatically over the past 40 years — with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, food allergies, childhood obesity, pediatric autoimmune conditions, and anxiety/depression all rising substantially. Functional pediatrics investigates the environmental, nutritional, microbiome, and genetic factors driving this epidemic of childhood chronic illness and provides evidence-based approaches … Read more
Quick answer: Long COVID — the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) — affects an estimated 10-30% of COVID-19 survivors, with symptoms persisting more than 12 weeks after acute infection. Approximately 65 million people worldwide are estimated to have Long COVID. Functional medicine’s comprehensive, multi-system approach to identifying and treating the underlying biological mechanisms — … Read more
Quick answer: Alzheimer’s disease now affects 6.7 million Americans, yet the first clinical symptoms appear 15-20 years after pathological changes begin in the brain — making the pre-symptomatic decades the most important window for prevention. The ReCODE Protocol (Bredesen 2014 Aging, 2016) demonstrated reversal of cognitive decline in 9 of 10 patients with early Alzheimer’s … Read more
Quick answer: Men’s health spans one of the most rapidly changing landscapes in functional medicine — testosterone levels in American men have declined 1% per year since 1987 (Travison et al. 2007 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism), with the average 60-year-old man today having testosterone levels equivalent to a 70-80 year old in 1987. … Read more
Quick answer: Most patients receive laboratory results as a series of numbers with “H” or “L” flags and “normal range” columns — but the standard reference ranges are statistical constructs based on the middle 95% of a tested population, not evidence-based thresholds for optimal health. Functional medicine interprets labs in clinical context, uses tighter “optimal” … Read more