FirstLine Therapy Program

First Line Therapy Program Overview

Metabolic Syndrome

One in 3 Americans have metabolic syndrome—a cluster of conditions that can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which can be preventable or reversible through a clinically proven lifestyle medicine program. If you have 3 of the 5 following markers, you are at risk: 1) elevated waist circumference, 2) elevated triglycerides, 3) reduced HDL “good” cholesterol, 4) elevated blood pressure, and 5) elevated fasting glucose.

Change Your Health with the FirstLine Therapy Metabolic Syndrome Program
The FirstLine Therapy Metabolic Syndrome Program is a professionally supervised, personalized lifestyle modification plan. Designed by healthcare professionals, this program has been shown remarkably successful in helping individuals like you return to a path of extended health.

This is not a weight reduction program — it’s a disease reduction program. While weight loss often occurs, it’s only secondary to the primary goal helping you achieve and maintain a healthy body composition ( lean-muscle-to-fat ratio ) to improve health, manage disease, feel better, and reduce your risk of more serious conditions.

FirstLine Therapy® is a Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) program that can enhance your health and prevent disease.

It can help you address a wide range of health conditions as well as other lifestyle related health concerns and symptoms. These include:

  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Diabetes
  • Arthritis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Overweight/Obesity
  • High cholesterol
  • High blood pressure
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Fatigue
  • Hormone imbalance
  • Stress-related symptoms
  • Poor memory or lack of mental clarity
  • And many others

FirstLine Therapy is structured with professional supervision to help you:

  • Establish realistic, personalized goals to improve health
  • Monitor your progress and help you stay on track
  • Learn how to eat and shop for healthy, nutritious foods that manage (notincrease) cravings
  • Exercise in a way that builds muscle and gets rid of unwanted fat
  • Relax and manage unhealthy stress
  • Feel better and do more!

Call today to schedule an appointment!

FirstLine Therapy® is about making choices every day that will enable you to achieve a long, full, and healthy life.

Resources

FirstLine Therapy Patient Brochure (PDF)

Blood Sugar Metabolism (PDF)

Body Composition Info Sheet (PDF)

Understanding the Effects of Gluten (PDF)

Recommended Visits

  • Initial visit with Body Composition (Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA) is a method of assessing your “body composition”—the measurement of body fat in relation to lean body mass.)
  • 4 week follow up with Body Composition
  • 8 week follow up with Body Composition
  • 12 week follow up with Body Composition
Modified Mediterranean Food Plan

Scientific Evidence for FirstLine Therapy® and TLC

While weight loss plans routinely tout “scientific evidence” to back their claims, the fact is, any diet that results in a calorie deficit will produce weight loss. But FirstLine Therapy isn’t about just losing weight, it’s about making choices every day that will enhance your health and prevent disease, enabling you to achieve a full, healthy life.

A wealth of scientific evidence tells us that adopting habits that are healthy can delay the onset of illness in old age and extend years of good health. 

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The Advantages of FirstLine Therapy


  • In a recent study conducted by the Functional Medicine Research Center, the research arm of Metagenics, FirstLine Therapy was shown to improve important cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with metabolic syndrome, more significantly than the same low-glycemic-load diet and exercise alone.1
  • In a 12-week, 2-arm prospective clinical trial of postmenopausal women (53 subjects completing the trial), FirstLine Therapy was shown to effectively address 14 markers of cardiovascular health—significantly better than a leading American Heart Association dietary plan with exercise.2

The Benefits of Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes


  • A study published in the American Journal of Cardiology concluded that many patients with conventional risk factors for CHD can experience lowered risk without mediations within 12 weeks of starting a therapeutic lifestyle change program, refuting the notion that intensive lifestyle modification is not worth the effort.3

  • In a similar study of 337 adults ranging in age from 43 to 81 years published by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, a lifestyle modification program was found to be an effective nutrition and physical activity intervention in the short term, and has the potential to notably decrease the risks associated with common chronic disease in the long term.4
  • The PREMIER multi-center clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute found that individuals with above-optimal blood pressure, including stage 1 hypertension, can apply multiple lifestyle changes that lower blood pressure and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.5

  • A randomized, single-blind 3-year study of 180 patients with metabolic syndrome concluded that a Mediterranean-style diet ( emphasizing whole grains, fish, vegetables, and fruit) might be effective in reducing the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its associated cardiovascular disease risk.6

  • A cohort study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of 3,051 men age 60-79 years with no diabetes mellitus or diagnosis of CHD found that modification of lifestyle factors, even later in life, has considerable potential for primary prevention of metabolic syndrome.7

References

  1. Lerman RH, Bland JS, Darland G, Lamb JJ, Minich DM, Schiltz, Tripp ML. Supplementation with a novel selective kinase response modulator (SKRM) nutraceutical and medical food significantly enhances the benefits of a diet and exercise program in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Functional Medicine Research Center, the clinical research arm of Metagenics, Inc., Gig Harbor, WA. [In preparation].
  2. Lukaczer D, Liskak DJ, Lerlman RH, Darland G, Schiltz B, Tripp M, Bland JS. Effect of a low glycemic index diet with soy protein and phytosterols on CVD risk factors in postmenopausal women. Nutrition 2006;22(2):104-13.
  3. Gordon NF , Salmon RD, Franklin BA, et al. Effectiveness of therapeutic lifestyle changes in patients with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and/or hyperglycemia. Am J Cardiol 2004;94(12):1558-61.
  4. Aldana SG, Greenlaw RL, Diehl HA, Salberg A, Merrill RM, Ohmine S, et al. Effects of an intensive diet and physical activity modification program on the health risks of adults. J Am Diet Assoc 2005;105(3):371-81.
  5. Appel J, Champagne CM, Harsha DW, Cooper LS, Obarzanek E, Elmer PJ, et al. Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on blood pressure control. Main results of the PREMIER clinical trial. JAMA 2003;289(16):2083-93.
  6. Esposito K, Marfella R, Ciotola M, et al. Effect of a Mediterranean-style diet on endothelial dysfunction and markers of vascular inflammation in the metabolic syndrome. JAMA 2004;292:1440-1446.
  7. Wannamethee SG, Shaper AG, Whincup PH. Modifiable lifestyle factors and the metabolic syndrome in older men: effects of lifestyle changes. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006;54(12):1909-14.

Information obtained from www.metagenics.com.