Women: Diet, Cardiometabolic Health, and Functional Medicine

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease was previously considered a problem for men, despite more women dying annually from cardiovascular causes. As a result of flawed assumptions, clinical research relied on men, leading to biased guidelines and treatment protocols. Emerging evidence demonstrates that women have unique sex and gender differences that must be considered, particularly their cardiometabolic health, in a systems biology framework that can be organized into a functional medicine model of care. Our aim is to help clinicians recognize the value added by functional medicine in the assessment of women vis-à-vis cardiometabolic pathways, phenotypes, and differences in risk compared with men.

Keywords: Hormone therapy; Menopause; Metabolic health; Metabolism; Nutrition; Perimenopause; Women; Women’s health.