Our vision: more people living healthier lives

Research in the field of nutrition is of no commercial interest – that’s the reason why the Dietary Science Foundation is needed. We founded it with the goal of improving the quality of nutrition research; to fill all the existing gaps in knowledge about how diet can affect the course of various diseases.

If you follow the dietary debate in newspapers, TV and blogs you’ll hear many stories about how people have regained their health after changing their diet: diabetics can throw away their insulin and other blood sugar medications, digestive systems calm down and stop causing pain, migraines or bodily aches and pains disappear, asthma may vanish and pollen allergy fails to make its usual appearance. Women suddenly become pregnant after years of trying, or their acne goes away. Parents of children with ADHD or autism say that their children settle down or become easier to make contact with.

From a biochemical perspective, there is reason to believe that a change of diet can bring about these health improvements. Not for everyone, but for subgroups of people. The reason is that diet affects intestinal flora, metabolism, blood sugar, insulin levels and even various signal substances released in the brain. From a theoretical biochemical perspective, stable blood sugar and low insulin levels should also slow the development of some of our major diseases: cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. You can read more about the gaps in knowledge that exist for each ailment under the menu group “diseases.”

Well-designed scientific studies

Healthcare treatments cannot be based on anecdotes or biochemical hypotheses, however. For doctors to recommend a particular diet we need well-designed scientific studies proving efficacy while evaluating possible side effects.

This is where the Dietary Science Foundation enters the picture. We started the foundation because we wanted to make these kinds of high-quality studies happen. The problem as we see it is that nutrition research is of no commercial interest. Researchers in the field of nutrition seldom get more than €200,000 to conduct a scientific study, whereas a pharmaceutical company can invest several hundred thousand euros in evaluating the effect of a single drug.

A need for greater cooperation in the field of nutrition

When drug companies conduct large clinical trials, they also coordinate doctors from many different clinics. In this way they gain access to a sufficient number of patients for the study to reach statistical significance, which is a prerequisite for a drug to be approved. Research in the field of nutrition is rarely done on a national level; studies are often small and results uncertain. Only a fraction of the research done is of high enough quality to influence national treatment guidelines.

We aim to change that. The Dietary Science Foundation works to launch and support high-quality research. Since its inception in 2014 the foundation has invested in several top-notch studies evaluating the effect of various dietary treatments for IBS, type 1 diabetes, fatty liver and obesity. In addition, we have enabled a project that will investigate how sugar consumption affects weight.

Currently, we are working towards financing Carbcount, Europe’s largest study of the effect of diet on type 2 diabetes. The study will be conducted in five different countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Scotland), and the researchers are aiming high: disease reversal. Participants should attain normal blood sugar levels without medication. Carbcount will contribute to the establishment of more efficacious dietary treatments in health care, thereby saving lives.

Our hope is that the Dietary Science Foundation will continue to enact change, but we can’t do it without you. Your donation and the donations of others are needed to strengthen the organization. As a monthly donor, you enable us to keep initiating studies and plan for future projects. Together we can help more people live healthier lives.