Wahls Therapeutic Lifestyle Research Fund
By Donating To The Wahls Therapeutic Lifestyle Research Fund, You Will Help Support:
- The first scientific study comparing a therapeutic diet and lifestyle without drugs to disease-modifying drugs for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS).
- Analysis of the MRI data, and blood, urine, and stool biomarkers data from the MS and CIS study.
- Future studies on additional autoimmune disease states, such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, and other disease states, such as macular degeneration.
Implications:
I am often asked if using diet and lifestyle without drugs is just as effective as taking disease-modifying drugs for controlling symptoms and stopping disease progression. Patients and clinicians ask me this question often, but there are no studies that are attempting to answer that question. Clinically, we have observed that many patients who adopt a therapeutic diet and lifestyle experience tremendous success at stopping symptoms and regressing brain lesions. But there are no studies prospectively comparing the two approaches.
We are committed to doing a scientific study to compare these two approaches to treating autoimmune disease. We will first investigate in the setting of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). Ours will be the first scientific study comparing therapeutic diet and lifestyle without drugs to disease-modifying drugs for MS and CIS patients. We want to know how therapeutic diet and lifestyle compares to disease-modifying drug therapy. Are the two approaches equivalent or is one better than the other?
The aim of this study is to compare a usual care cohort of patients to a cohort that is using a therapeutic diet and lifestyle without disease-modifying drugs and monitor change in quality of life. We will assess change in motor, visual, and cognitive function and biomarkers, including MRI (presence of new lesions and level of inflammation) and blood, urine, and stool.
This will be a landmark study because it is one of the first to compare, head to head, a therapeutic diet and lifestyle without drugs to usual care in the setting of serious systemic autoimmune conditions. If we are able to show that therapeutic diet and lifestyle is equivalent (or better than) to using drug-based disease modifying therapy for in the setting of MS and CIS – that would be a huge finding! It will be a landmark study, one that has potential to change the way serious systemic autoimmune conditions are treated. It will allow patients wanting to use therapeutic diet and lifestyle (and their treating medical teams) to have more confidence in giving a trial of therapeutic diet and lifestyle before starting disease-modifying drugs. It will also give us more impetus to investigate therapeutic diet and lifestyle in other serious autoimmune disease states.
How you can help:
Become part of the team that will answer important questions about the impact of diet and lifestyle on disease state. You can help by:
Making an individual gift
Hosting an event
The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is a non-profit organization on the University of Iowa campus that solicits private, tax-deductible contributions for all areas of the university, including the diet and lifestyle research of Dr. Terry Wahls.
The University of Iowa acknowledges the UI Center for Advancement as the preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. When donating to the Dr. Terry Wahls Research Fund, you will receive a thank you letter and receipt for tax purposes from the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. You will be helping her team have more resources on hand to conduct more innovative studies that can change the standard of medical care. Thank you for your support!
Have you thought about hosting your own event to raise awareness and funds for The Wahls Research Fund?
The University of Iowa Center for Advancement has assembled a PDF guide for hosting third-party events that raise funds to support the research of Dr. Wahls and her lab.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE HERE
Contact the University of Iowa Center for Advancement Development team to learn more about Dr. Wahls’ innovative research by reaching out to Robert.King@foriowa.org (319) 467-3788
Implications of our studies:
We think everyone should be using therapeutic diet and lifestyle as part of their treatment of multiple sclerosis. We do not know if patients would do better if they combined diet and lifestyle with drugs, or if they would do just as well without any drugs at all. Because disease-modifying drugs have a risk of some serious, life-threatening side effects and cost between $45,000 and $100,000 per year or more, this is study has huge implications. lf diet and lifestyle treatment (without drugs) is found to be equivalent to disease-modifying drug treatments, it will have huge implications for patients and their families, as well as policy makers. That is why this study is so important. We all want to know! How does a therapeutic diet and lifestyle without drugs compare to disease-modifying drugs? We are committed to doing the scientific research to answer that question.
By now most people are wondering what they can do to help us answer that critical question: Is a therapeutic diet and lifestyle without drugs equivalent to disease-modifying drugs?
We have enough funds on hand to conduct the study and collect the biomarker data, but we need additional funding to analyse the MRI and biomarker data. Those data are key to discovering if diet and lifestyle changes can stop new lesions from developing and heal old lesions. Those are the kinds of data that neurologists need to see to feel confident that diet and lifestyle treatments are as effective as disease-modifying drug treatments. MRIs and blood, urine, and stool biomarkers will be key measures to compare, critical to assessing if the two groups are equivalent. Your support will make it possible to analyze biomarkers and draw sound conclusions.
Whatever we find, this will be a landmark study. If the two approaches are equivalent, or that therapeutic diet and lifestyle has a better outcome, it will reassure patients that diet and lifestyle without drug treatment has some scientific data supporting that approach.
By donating, you become part of a team doing research that is changing lives and improving the future.
Read and Review Dr. Wahls Published Research:
Click here to get access to the published research papers and gait change videos.
Work with Dr. Wahls
I have created a variety of programs to help people adopt and sustain the Wahls Protocol® in their lives. You can learn more about the memberships, menus, my Autoimmune Intervention Mastery Course, The Radical Health Upgrade Program with coaching, and many more offerings, including the Wahls Protocol® Seminar, which will teach you what the Wahls Protocol® is and how it can transform your health. More information can be found under the “Programs” menu item above.
I also encourage you to buy my books to learn more about my experience and discuss what you’ve learned, as well as your individual health concerns, with your physician. By improving the environment for our cells through better nutrition, eliminating toxins, minimizing food sensitivities, and increasing exercise and stress-reducing activities, many people experience steady improvements in their health.
I hope all of this information will assist you in your journey toward optimal health and vitality.
In Health,
Dr. Terry Wahls
Published Articles
Read published works, scientific articles, and medical humanities essays written by Dr. Terry Wahls.
