30/12/2019
During 2019 all the supporters of the Dietary Science Foundation have raised nearly 160,000 euros, which is a record. The studies that the Dietary Science Foundation has helped launch have also received large grants from other sources. Here’s a summary of the year gone by.
A new year is soon upon us, and we’d like to thank everyone who has given their support to the Dietary Science Foundation during 2019. Your contributions make a big difference! Our company partners also continue to grow in numbers with three new allies joining our ranks in December: TMS Electronics, Lodilo Inc. and 4Health/Anna Sparre Inc. FunMed Inc. will continue as our company partner for another year. Many thanks for supporting vital research!
The Dietary Science Foundation began 2019 with an open call for proposals for high quality dietary research. Out of the applications that came in, our scientific advisory board chose to support two projects. We gave 30,000 euros to a study of a new and potentially more reliable method of following sugar consumption. Dietary studies are usually based on what participants themselves report that they have eaten, but few people can remember and report everything they eat and drink. Research has shown that the kinds of foods people fail to report are those that are perceived to be unhealthy, such as sweets. That’s why researchers need more objective ways of measuring what people have actually eaten.
In the project, which is currently being supported by the Dietary Science Foundation, researchers at Lund University will track participants’ sugar consumption by measuring the sugar content of their urine. Using that measurement they will be able to calculate the amount of sugar consumed. Read more about the project here: Sugar consumption to be measured using urine samples.
The other project backed by the Dietary Science Foundation involves the launch of Europe’s largest study ever of diet for type 2 diabetes, CarbCount. Last year we financed the design of the study, which includes researchers from five countries. The researchers will compare two different dietary treatments that can change the course of type 2 diabetes: a strict low-carbohydrate diet and a very low calorie diet.
To date, there are no established treatments (without using medicines) that can normalize blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. So this study is important. The 80,000 euro grant given by the Dietary Science Foundation has been used to hire a project leader, write applications for ethical approval, design an app to help participants follow the diet and to apply for further funding from other places. Read more here: Europe’s largest study of diet for type 2 diabetes.
The Dietary Science Foundation celebrated its five years anniversary on 29th of September in the best way imaginable: with an amazing story of the power of diet. A change of diet has allowed 24-year-old Samuel Backman to conquer Bechterew’s disease, a chronic inflammation of the back and hips. A few years ago he was in such bad shape that he could hardly walk, but during 2019 he completed a half Ironman. You can read here about how he got his hope back: The best fifth birthday present.
Samuel Backman plans on doing a whole Ironman during 2020, wearing the Dietary Science Foundation’s logo on his shirt. We can hardly wait!
In December we were able to bring you two pieces of really good news. The study of diet for IBS was given 240,000 euros in funding from ALF and the study of diet for type 1 diabetes got 270,000 euros from the insurance company Skandia’s research fund. Both are very welcome additions to their respective resources! The money will allow the IBS researchers to do additional important analyses, and the researchers behind the type 1 diabetes project will have the means to recruit more people to work with the study, allowing for faster progress.
This, dear friends, was a short summary of the most noteworthy happenings of 2019. But before we start looking forward to the year ahead, we’d like to thank two people who have done tons of voluntary work for the Dietary Science Foundation. Karin Eldh does the almost daily job of printing out and mailing certificates for honor and memorial gifts. Michele Wilcox spends many hours translating texts for our English newsletter and website. Thank you both! The work you do is invaluable.
We are excited about 2020, a year when three projects the Dietary Science Foundation has been involved in financing will probably be completed.
Researchers in the IBS project have recruited 200 of the 300 people who will take part in the study. They hope to start analyzing the data in the beginning of 2021.
In the CarbFunc project in Bergen, Norway where researchers are studying the role played by fat and various carbohydrates in obesity, all the participants have completed the six month check. The final, one-year check will be done in the spring of 2020, at which point the researchers will have all the data they need.
In the TREND study of fatty liver, which is being run by Karolinska University Hospital, the last 15 participants will be included in the project during the spring. The goal is for the researchers to be able to start analyzing the data at the end of this spring. If all goes as planned, they’ll publish their findings in a scientific journal in the spring of 2021, at which point we will have access to their data.
So we have an exciting year ahead of us! The Dietary Science Foundation will continue to raise funds for the study of diet for type 2 diabetes, CarbCount. To get the study started the researchers need further contributions from more sources, as well as more money from the Dietary Science Foundation. So keep giving us your support! If you haven’t already done so, become a monthly donor or company partner. All contributions are welcome, large or small.
Our New Year’s resolution is to work hard so more groundbreaking dietary research can get done. Together we can make sure that the 2020s will be the decade when obesity and type 2 diabetes decrease.
Happy New Year everyone!