Humans need certain essential nutrients for their bodies to function, including vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and amino acids A balanced diet rich in vegetables, fruits, protein, and certain fats is important to help provide those key nutrients. However, some children may not be able to absorb, orlack these nutrients in their diet. Moreover, because of the over processing of food, the addition of preservative and chemicals in the food chain, and exposure to toxins in the environment their bodies may have become sanitized to common foods. The Children’s HOPE Center uses a biomedical approach. The Biomedical approach is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers families and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of the child’s disease and promote optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, nutrition, and lifestyle factors and use that information to direct personalized treatment plans that lead healing and resolution of underlying problems.
This involves a detailed history and physical exam, but also may involve biomedical testing. Such things as yeast overgrowth, complete blood count, environmental toxins, heavy metals, food allergies, microbiome analysis and other metabolic and functional studies may be needed to get a a glimpse at the biomedical challenges in the child’s case and determine the specific nutritional needs of the child.