Jeffrey S. Bland 博士（PhD， FACN，FACB），是华盛顿州西雅图市个性化生活方式医学研究所的总裁和创始人。25 年以来，他一直是国际上公认的营养医学的领导者。Bland 博士是美国功能医学研究院（IFM）的联合创始人之一和 IFM 董事会的退休名誉主席。他是《疾病狂想：征服慢性疾病的根本原因 - 为了更健康、长寿和幸福的生活》一书的作者，该书于 2014年出版。

 

The Natural Roots of Functional Medicine

功能医学的天然根基

This is a very exciting time for medicine. We are witnessing the creation of a new approach to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. It is an omnigenic approach—powered by systems biology— to assembling patient-specific information about how genes and lifestyle interact. When combined with other new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning informatics, the result will be the development of a precision form of personalized lifestyle medicine applied to cardiovascular disease. This advancement will be a gateway for change throughout the entire segment of the health care system that is focused on the many complex chronic conditions affecting our world population.

对于医学来说，这是一个非常激动人心的时刻。我们正在见证一种预防和治疗心血管疾病的新方法的诞生。这是一种由系统生物学提供支持的全能方法，用于收集有关基因和生活方式如何相互作用的病人特定信息。当与其他新技术（如人工智能和机器学习信息学）相结合时，其结果将是开发出一种应用于心血管疾病的精确形式的个性化生活方式医学。这一进展将成为整个医疗保健系统中专注于影响我们世界人口的许多复杂慢性病的部分的变革之门。

 

People often ask me about the origins of the functional medicine concept. The Institute for Functional Medicine has captured worldwide attention in the last several decades, and it continues to expand its reach in ways that I watch with great pride and pleasure. Like the creation of many new ideas, the functional medicine concept cannot be tracked to a well-defined business plan or an organized management structure. Rather, it emerged organically from conversations and collaborations, and then it continued to evolve due to the shared visions—and hard work—of many dedicated health professionals.

人们经常问我关于功能医学概念的起源。在过去的几十年里，功能医学研究院已经吸引了全世界的关注，而且它还在继续扩大它的影响力，我对此感到非常自豪和高兴。就像许多新想法的产生一样，功能医学的概念不能被追踪到一个明确的商业计划或一个有组织的管理结构。相反，它是在对话和合作中有机地出现的，然后由许多敬业的健康专家共同辛勤工作而得以发展，寄托了美好的愿景。

 

Humble Beginnings, an Open Mind, and Unexpected Attention

始于低调，发展于开放的心态，得到意外的关注

In 1971, I took my first “real job.” I was an assistant professor of chemistry and environmental science at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where I had the opportunity to teach a number of different chemistry-related subjects, including biochemistry and environmental science. One of my first research students was interested in doing work with vitamin E. I knew very little about vitamin E at that time, only that it was an interesting family of molecules with the name tocopherol, which—from the Greek—means “to bear offspring.”

1971年，我在华盛顿州塔科马市普吉特海湾大学的化学和环境科学当助理教授，这是我的第一份 "真正的工作"，在那里我有机会教授一些不同的化学相关科目，包括生物化学和环境科学。当时我对维生素E知之甚少，只知道它是一个有趣的分子家族，名字叫生育酚，来自希腊语，是 "生育后代"的意思。

 

Why this name? When vitamin E was discovered in 1922 by Herbert Evans, MD, and his research assistant, Katharine Bishop, MD, at the University of California, Berkeley, their studies indicated that rats fed a diet containing highly purified fat were unable to successfully produce live offspring.1 With additional research, they discovered that the process of purifying fat removed a fat-soluble family of nutrient molecules, which they latercalled vitamin E or tocopherols. My student and I decided to evaluate the effect of vitamin E on the human red blood cell in both controlled in vitro studies and in vivo human intervention trials. Our work, which took place between 1972 and 1975, revealed how vitamin E protects red blood cells against damage associated with aging; we were among the first investigators to report a mechanistic link between vitamin E and a health benefit in humans.2,3

为什么叫这个名字？当维生素E在1922年被加州大学伯克利分校的赫伯特-埃文斯医学医生和他的研究助理凯瑟琳-毕晓普医学博士发现时，他们的研究表明，对老鼠喂食含有高度纯化脂肪食物会导致其无法成功生育活的后代。1 通过更多的研究，他们发现，提纯脂肪的过程中去除了一个脂溶性的营养分子家族，他们后来称之为维生素E或生育酚。我和我的学生决定在受控的体外和体内进行人类干预试验研究，以评估对照试验中维生素E对人类红细胞的影响。我们的实验发生在1972年至1975年之间，揭示了维生素E如何保护红血球免受与老化有关的损害；我们是第一批报告维生素E与人类健康益处之间的机制联系的调查人员。2,3

 

The publication of this work generated significant interest from the medical and nutrition research communities, and even among the general public. My visibility was rising, and I was invited to speak at a number of professional meetings. I suddenly found myself being described as a nutritionist, when in reality my training and background made me more a clinical biochemist and environmental scientist. These new opportunities brought me into contact with a number of very interesting groups that would change my life and career forever.

这项研究报告被发表以后，在医学和营养研究界引起了巨大的轰动，甚至是普通公众对其都产生极大兴趣。随着知名度的不断提高，我被邀请在一些专业会议上发言。我突然发现自己被描述为一个营养学家，而实际上我的培训和背景使我更像是一个临床生物化学家和环境科学家。这些新的机会使我接触到一些非常有趣的团体，它们将永远改变我的生活和职业。

 

An Invitation, a Life-changing Introduction, and an Open Door

一个邀请，一个改变生活的介绍，以及一扇敞开的门

In 1975, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Northwest Academy of Preventive Medicine, which was founded by Leo Bolles, MD. The conference took place in Seattle, Washington, and Linus Pauling, PhD, 2-time Nobel Laureate in chemistry and peace, was the keynote speaker. It was my honor and privilege to meet Dr Pauling for the first time at this event, and this encounter was the beginning of a long-term professional relationship, which ultimately led to my work at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in Palo Alto, California, in the early 1980s. While I was still at the university, however, I answered a knock on my office door one memorable day in 1977. In my doorway stood Joseph Pizzorno, ND—to this day, a lifelong friend and colleague—along with a group of naturopathic physicians. In retrospect, I recognize that I hosted an impromptu gathering of naturopathic superstars in my small office that day. The ensemble included Bill Mitchell, Les Griffith, Jenefer Huntoon, Cathy Rogers, Irv Miller, Cathy Naughton, and even the esteemed father of naturopathic medicine in the Pacific Northwest, John Bastyr, DC, ND.

1975年，由Leo Bolles博士创立的西北预防医学研究院的成立会议在华盛顿州的西雅图举行，两届诺贝尔化学与和平奖得主莱纳斯-鲍林博士是主讲人，我很荣幸参加这次会议。在这次活动中第一次见到鲍林博士，这次相遇开启了我们的长期职业合作关系，最终对我在20世纪80年代初在加州帕洛阿尔托的莱纳斯-鲍林科学和医学研究所工作产生深刻的影响。1977年当我还在大学的一天，那是一个至今都难忘的日子，我的办公室门被Joseph Pizzorno, ND敲响了，他既是我的朋友也是我的同事，和他一起来的还有一群自然疗法的医生们。现在回想起来，那天我的小办公室里简直就是举办了一次自然疗法超级明星的即兴聚会。这些人包括比尔-米切尔（Bill Mitchell）、莱斯-格里菲斯（Les Griffith）、珍妮弗-亨通（Jenefer Huntoon）、凯西-罗杰斯（Cathy Rogers）、欧文-米勒（Irv Miller）、凯西-诺顿（Cathy Naughton），甚至还有太平洋西北地区自然疗法之父、DC、ND的约翰-巴斯蒂尔。

 

Decades later, time now allows me to recognize that my interaction with this group of young, energetic, dedicated, and very intelligent naturopaths was my first introduction to the field of naturopathy and natural medicine. They had come to me with a request: Would I teach a class in botanical pharmacology—they would be my students—to help facilitate renewal of the ND licensure law in the state of Washington? Naively, I took up the challenge, and for 3 months we came together regularly to complete the course. With a great deal of amusement, I now think back to the scene: There I was—a young hotshot professor of chemistry—trying to teach Dr John Bastyr about botanical pharmacology when he was a respected world expert in this field. It is a testament to Dr Bastyr’s character that he thoroughly engaged in the discussions and never held himself above the material; rather, he not only contributed richly to the class dialogue, but also to my own education in the process. When I shared the news of this collaboration with my mother, who was living in California at the time, she indicated that she had gone to a naturopath as a child growing up in Los Angeles; her mother—my grandmother—had been a big supporter of natural medicine. This uniquely personal endorsement of the field somehow solidified the positive impression I had already formed about my new colleagues.

时至今日，我深刻的认识到，我与这群年轻的、有活力的、专注的、非常聪明的自然疗法者的互动，是我对自然疗法和自然医学领域的第一次认识。他们请求我是否可以教他们一个植物药理学的课程，以帮助促进华盛顿州的自然疗法执照法的更新？我天真地接受了这个挑战，在3个月里，我们定期聚在一起完成课程。我现在回想起当时的情景，感到非常好笑。当时我是一个年轻的化学教授，正在教约翰-巴斯蒂尔博士关于植物药理学的知识，而他是这个领域里受人尊敬的世界专家。这证明了巴斯蒂尔博士的性格，他完全参与了讨论，而且从不把自己凌驾于教材之上；相反，他不仅为课堂对话做出了丰富的贡献，而且在这个过程中也为我的教育做出了贡献。当我把这次合作的消息告诉当时住在加利福尼亚的母亲时，她表示，她小时候在洛杉矶长大，曾去看自然疗法；她的母亲--我的祖母--一直是自然医学的忠实支持者。这种独特的个人对该领域的认可，在某种程度上巩固了我对新同事已经形成的积极印象。

 

 

A Sabbatical, Transformative Lectures, and a Chance Encounter

一场在休假日的变革性的讲座和一次偶然的相遇

My association with the leaders of the emerging field of naturopathic medicine led to an important introduction and opportunity. Richard Liebmann, ND, was dean of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, in 1978, and he inquired whether I would teach a course in nutritional medicine at the college. I agreed, and 1978 turned out to be a pivotal year for my career as an educator. I took a sabbatical from my permanent university position. A group of students at Evergreen State College—a school known for innovative course design—had nominated me to teach nutritional biochemistry at the campus in Olympia, Washington. I organized a companion course that was team taught by me, Dr Joe Pizzorno, and Betty Cutter, PhD, that we called “Is there a Healer in the House?” Together, we coordinated weekly guest lectures about topics connected to the healing arts, and our speakers represented a diverse range of specialties, from natural medicine to surgery. That year—splitting my time between NCIM in Portland and Evergreen in Olympia— my personal knowledgebase expanded well beyond my clinical biochemistry and environmental science training. I was fascinated by the many rich perspectives I was exposed to about medicine, health, disease, and healing. With each lecture I listened to, with each book I read, and with each new relationship I established, my own unique perspective on these topics was taking shape, and my excitement about the future was building.

我与新兴的自然疗法领域的领导人的联系是一次重要的经历产生了一个重要的工作机会。1978年，位于俄勒冈州波特兰的国家自然疗法医学院院长理查德-利伯曼（Richard Liebmann, ND）询问我是否愿意在该学院教授一门营养医学课程。我同意了，而这一年对我的教育事业来说是关键的一年。我向原来的大学请了个长期休假。以创新的课程设计而闻名的常青州立学院里的一群学生提名我在华盛顿州奥林匹亚的校园里教授营养生物化学。于是我组织了一门由我、Joe Pizzorno博士和Betty Cutter博士共同教授的配套课程，我们称之为 "你的家里有治疗师吗？" 我们一起合作每周的客座讲座，讨论与治疗艺术有关的主题，我们的演讲者代表了不同的专业，从自然医学到外科。那一年，我在波特兰的NCIM和奥林匹亚的Evergreen之间穿梭，我的个人知识库已经远远超出了我的临床生物化学和环境科学培训。我被我所接触到的关于医学、健康、疾病和治疗的许多丰富的观点所吸引。随着我听的每一个讲座，读的每一本书，以及我建立的每一个新的关系，都加速我对这些主题的独特观点形成，我对未来的期待也在不断增加。

 

During this same period of time, I attended a meeting of the Northwest Academy of Preventive Medicine. By chance, I sat next to another “young turk”: David Jones, MD, a family physician from Ashland, Oregon. In the course of the meeting, Dr Jones and I became increasingly dissatisfied with our experience at this conference. The presentations often seemed to lack a thematic direction and we had questions about the scientific rigor of some of the research. Dr Jones and I talked about what we would like to do to make future meetings of this group more successful. As a pair, we were outspoken and unabashed; as a consequence, I became the president of the Northwest Academy of Preventive Medicine in 1979, and Dr Jones started the Southern Oregon Academy of Preventive Medicine. During the next 10 years, Dr Jones and I collaborated on growing our 2 networks. Breaking away from closely held traditions of exclusivity that govern most professional organizations, we were united in our belief that our groups should be open to all upstanding members of the healing arts: naturopaths, medical doctors, chiropractors, dentists, acupuncturists, dietitians, nutritionists, nurses, physical therapists, and physician assistants. We hoped to engage those members of each profession who were dedicated to excellence and life-long learning from one another and from emerging science.

在同一时期，我参加了西北预防医学会的一次会议。一个偶然的机会我坐在另一个 "激进分子 "-David Jones, MD旁边。他是一位来自俄勒冈州阿什兰的家庭医生。在会议过程中，演讲似乎经常缺乏主题方向，同时我们对一些研究的科学严谨性也有疑问，这些问题让我们对这次会议越来越不满意。作为同一组，我们直言不讳的毫不掩饰的讨论了我们想做什么来使这个小组的未来会议更加成功；结果，我在1979年成为西北预防医学研究院的主席，而琼斯博士则创办了南俄勒冈州预防医学研究院。在接下来的10年里，我们合作发展了两个网络同时打破了大多数专业组织的排他性传统；我们一致认为我们的团体应该向所有正向的治疗成员开放：自然疗法、医生、脊椎按摩师、牙医、针灸师、营养师、护士、物理治疗师和医生助理。我们希望能让每个行业中那些致力于追求卓越和终身学习的成员相互从新兴科学中学习。

 

New Ventures, Exciting Times, and a Big Decision

新的创新尝试，激动人心的时刻，以及一个重大决定

This era was a very dynamic time in the Pacific Northwest, especially in the evolution of natural medicine. I established a monthly study club that served as a gathering place for the leaders of the natural medicine movement. We frequently recorded these sessions, and audiotapes would be shared among people who couldn’t attend in person. A decade later, I began producing a monthly audio series based on my experience with the study group, and “Functional Medicine Update”—the name of my recording—became a regular part of my life for more than 34 years. At our study group meetings in the late 1970s, Dr Pizzorno and I frequently discussed the need for a science-based naturopathic medical college, and we believed that Seattle would be the ideal location. Other leaders in the field agreed with the worthiness of this project, and in 1978 the establishment of the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine moved from discussion to implementation. I joined Bastyr’s first board of trustees and became founding president of the Council of Naturopathic Medical Education. Jointly, these organizations applied to the US Department of Education for official recognition and accreditation, which was ultimately granted.

这个时期是太平洋西北地区非常活跃的时期，特别是在自然医学的演变方面。我建立了一个月度学习俱乐部，作为自然医学运动领导人的聚会场所。我们经常录制这些会议，并在无法亲自参加的人之间分享录音带。十几年后，我开始根据我在学习小组的经验制作每月一次的音频系列，名称为"功能医学更新"成为我34年多来生活中的常规部分。在20世纪70年代末的研究小组会议上，Pizzorno博士和我经常讨论建立一所以科学为基础的自然疗法医学院的必要性，我们认为西雅图将是一个理想的地点。这个领域的其他领导人也同意这个项目的价值，1978年，约翰-巴斯蒂尔自然疗法医学院的建立从讨论走向了实施。我加入了巴斯蒂尔学院的第一届董事会，并成为自然疗法医学教育委员会的创始主席。这些组织共同向美国教育部申请官方认可和认证，并最终获得批准。

 

By 1981, I was once again on sabbatical from my teaching position at the University of Puget Sound. At the invitation of Dr Linus Pauling, I was working under his mentorship at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. For 2 extraordinary years, I had the opportunity to engage in research and program development that was foundational to the integration of systems biology into medicine. I interacted with an amazing group of innovators; Dr Pauling himself was the leader of the institute, and he invited scientific leaders and colleagues from around the world to visit the institute as guest faculty. During this period, I studied the history of medicine and the healing arts in greater detail. I read voraciously about the concept of natural medicine and naturopathy.4 In 1983, a conference that was organized as a tribute to Dr Pauling took place in San Francisco. The proceedings from this event were edited by Richard Huemer, MD, and published in a book titled The Roots of Molecular Medicine. My contribution was a chapter based on my presentation, “Lipid-Peroxidation-Induced Diseases: A Model of Molecular Disease.”5 Among the many personal and professional milestones I achieved during my years at the Pauling Institute, a project of particular pride was my work with the noted Scottish cancer specialist, Ewan Cameron, MD, on the development of an integrated approach to cancer therapy that culminated in our completion of an animal study on the differential effects of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. We published our results in 1989, and the findings were surprising: In a mouse model of breast cancer, an omega-6-enriched diet produced a procarcinogenic effect, whereas an omega-3-enriched diet produced a cancer-protective effect.6

到1981年，我再次向普吉特海湾大学申请休假。应莱纳斯-鲍林博士的邀请，我在他的指导下，在莱纳斯-鲍林科学和医学研究所工作。在这非同寻常的两年里，我有机会参与系统生物学与医学结合的基础研究和项目开发。我与一群了不起的创新者互动；鲍林博士本人是该研究所的领导人，他邀请世界各地的科学领袖和同事作为客座教师访问该研究所。在这期间，我贪婪地阅读有关自然医学和自然疗法的概念，使我更详细地研究了医学和治疗艺术的历史。4 在1983年，旧金山举行了一次向鲍林博士致敬的会议。这次会议的内容被Richard Huemer医生编辑记录在《分子医学的根源》这本书中出版，其中有一章是根据我的演讲 "脂质过氧化诱导的疾病 "撰写的。5 在鲍林研究所工作的这些年里，我取得了许多个人和职业上的里程碑，其中一个特别值得骄傲的项目是我与著名的苏格兰癌症专家伊万-卡梅伦（Ewan Cameron）博士合作，开发了一种癌症治疗的综合方法，最终我们完成了一项关于欧米伽6和欧米伽3脂肪酸的不同影响的动物研究。我们在1989年发表了我们的研究结果，结果令人惊讶。在乳腺癌的小鼠模型中，富含欧米伽6的饮食产生了致癌作用，而富含欧米伽3的饮食则产生了癌症保护作用。6

 

After completing my second sabbatical year in 1984, I made a dramatic decision: I resigned from my faculty position and relinquished my university tenure. I started a company—HealthComm International—with the intention of teaching practitioners how to implement preventive nutritional medicine in their practices. Why did I move away from academia? Because Dr Pauling had asked me a pointed question when our time together came to an end: “Do you think your classroom will be big enough for you and your vision to bring science-based nutritional medicine to the practitioner?” I decided to rise to the challenge, and so I made the life-changing decision to redefine my professional identity. A new chapter started: I was now an entrepreneur whose focus was to build a new discipline of science—as well as a business— around the concept and power of nutritional medicine.

1984年，结束了第二个公休年后，我做出了一个大胆的决定。我辞去了本职工作，放弃了在大学任教。为了教从业者如何在他们的实践中实施预防性营养医学我创办了一家名为HealthComm International的公司。那么为什么我离开了学术界？因为鲍林博士在我们即将分别时问了我一个尖锐的问题，"你认为你的课堂对你的愿景来说足够大吗？能把基于科学的营养医学带给从业者吗？" 我决定迎接这个挑战，于是我做出了改变生活的决定，重新定义我的专业身份。一个新的篇章开始了。我现在是一名企业家，我的工作重点是围绕营养医学的概念和力量建立一门新的科学学科，以及一个企业。

 

接Part.2