Do you ever wonder what the non-profit support groups really do to help end diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis?  I do.

And are they really motivated to “ending the disease forever”[i]  as they so often claim in their literature?  I’m not so sure.   

What really gets me up on my soap box about this topic, is how one-sided their “help” seems to be. Non-profit support groups such as the NMSS are indoctrinated to research and seeking out solutions that are based on medicine, i.e. pharmaceutical drugs.   Natural remedies, such as  nutrition, just aren’t in the game at all.

 

A Pill Cures All

That shouldn’t really be a big surprise to any of us. For the last several decades, we have all been taught about the incredible advances in science and medicine. If a health condition pops up, take a pill. Problem solved, right?

As the prolific author, Patrick Holford states in his book Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs[ii],

 

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Since the pharmaceutical companies benefit greatly from our pill-popping mindset, it makes sense that they would work closely with the non-profit support organizations who fund and direct a great deal of the research.

Is the goal of this research truly focused on finding a cure, or is the goal to ultimately sell more drugs?

 

Playing with Big Bucks

On their web site, the National MS Society reports that since they were founded in 1946, they have invested in $870 million into “innovative research”[iii]. That’s a lot of money; 11 times the world GDP[iv]. That’s a huge contribution to the debilitating, life-changing disease of Multiple Sclerosis. Interesting, isn’t it, that there’s still no cure?

Don’t get me wrong, the National MS Society does some great things to support people suffering with this disease. But are they really trying to wipe it off the face of the planet?

What if just a small percentage of that $870 million had been dedicated to research that was focused on “nutriceuticals” or nutritional based remedies? How much further along would we be in solving the MS mystery?

 

The Healing Power of Nutrition

The facts are, that hundreds if not thousands of us with MS, and other auto-immune conditions, are being helped every year by nutritional-based remedies. Take a look at the blogs, articles and books written by healthcare professionals such as Dr. Liz Lipski, Dr. Mark Hyman, Patrick Holford, Dr. Jeffrey Bland, Dr. David Perlmutter, or Dr. Terry Wahls, to name a few.

Dr. Wahls outlines Paleo principles of nutrition in her book The Wahls Protocol[v], that she used to heal herself from secondary-progressive MS.  As a professionally educated and trained medical doctor, Dr. Wahls is an excellent example of how to use nutrition effectively to treat illness.

 

Change the Paridigm

You don’t have to look too hard to find information that strongly supports the pivotal role nutrition plays in managing disease symptoms and improving overall health status for those afflicted with MS.  And yet, the non-profit support organizations like the NMSS, do not see value in funding research that would provide definitive answers. Why?  According to Dr. Wahls’ website, “traditional funders of research prefer to support studies that examine one variable at a time”, which makes it pretty difficult to study the impact of nutrition.

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Maybe it’s time to get refocused — for the organizations that fund research to either redirect their dollars to groups that can conduct research on multiple variables — OR — require the traditional funding sources to change their requirements regarding research protocols.

I wonder how much progress we could make if the donations from a couple of those annual fund-raising walks or bike-a-thons were redirected to Dr. Wahls’ research?

……Just a thought.

There is hope out there for people suffering with MS and many other conditions. For now, unfortunately, it’s up to each of us individually to do our own research. Decide for yourself which protocol or therapy has merit and is worth trying, or find a nutritionist or other alternative healthcare practitioner who can help navigate this process for you.

Your local non-profit support group is happy to provide you with lots of reading material about your condition; just don’t count on them for a cure anytime soon.

Wishing you health and happiness!

 

[i] National MS Society, 2015.  Retrieved 3/4/15 from www.nationalmssociety.org/research/research-we-fund#section-1.

[ii] Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs”, (updated 2010).  London, UK:  Little Brown Book Co.

[iii] National MS Society, 2015.  Retrieved 3/6/15 from www.nationalmssociety.org/research/research-we-fund#section-1.

[iv] Wikipedia.org, (2013).  Retrieved 3/4/15 from www.wikipedia.org, United Nations Statistics Division, December 2014.

[v] Wahls, Terry, M.D., (2014).  The Wahls Protocol.  New York, NY:  Penguin Group.

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