Media Contact: Beth McGroarty
[email protected] • +1.213.300.0107
WellnessEvidence.com Launches: First Site to Provide Direct Access to the Medical Evidence for Common Wellness Approaches
Global Wellness Institute Initiative Empowers People to Investigate the Hard Science behind Everything from Acupuncture and Meditation to Workplace Wellness Programs and Yoga
New York, NY – February 11, 2015 – A new health resource, WellnessEvidence.com, launched today as the first website that provides direct access to the current medical evidence for 24 of the most mainstream wellness approaches. With thousands of clinical studies evaluating the effectiveness of approaches from chiropractic to weight loss, the site was designed to make it easier for the millions of people seeking alternative health solutions, for medical professionals selecting courses of treatment, and for companies designing employee wellness programs, to research wellness alternatives at the most authoritative sources of evidence-based medicine.
A project of the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), an international research organization and think-tank for wellness-related industries, Wellness Evidence was previewed at the GWI’s Global Wellness Summit in Morocco in Fall 2014—and was launched to the world today at a GWI roundtable on the topic of the “Science of Wellness” held in New York City.
“Wellness is a massive $3.4 trillion global sector, but with explosive consumer markets, misinformation on the latest fad diets or ‘miracle’ cures can spawn. This new site, with transparent access to the same databases doctors use, is a much-needed, ‘spin-free’ wellness research zone,” said Susie Ellis, president and CEO of the GWI. “And while medical studies on wellness approaches are typically radically under-funded compared to traditional drugs, there’s an important, growing body of evidence to explore. People have questions: Is there strong evidence that acupuncture benefits chronic back and neck pain? Long-term smoking cessation? That highly symptomatic stress significantly increases risk of early death? The answers are yes, no, and yes—and whether the evidence is positive, inconclusive or negative, it’s searchable at Wellness Evidence.”
Key Site Features:
Research Channel: The heart of the website is its research platform, which allows users to search four highly respected, evidence-based medical databases—Natural Standard, The Cochrane Library, PubMed and TRIP—to access the universe of meta-reviews and clinical trials on the 24 wellness approaches. Each pre-searched database has unique strengths; more info on the databases is available at: http://www.wellnessevidence.com/wellnessevidence/research-databases
Research Spotlights: For each wellness approach, selected medical studies are showcased to introduce users to the nature and diversity of the research available.
Studies in the News: Recent, headline-making articles on the medical evidence for wellness approaches are aggregated, allowing users to read about complex medical studies in an easy-to-digest way.
Studies-in-Progress: Users can search for clinical trials on wellness now underway both in the U.S. (via ClinicalTrials.gov) and globally (via the World Health Organization site).
“Conversations” & “Contributions”: Visitors can contribute studies about wellness approaches, as well as share their own experiences and outcomes.
The Site’s Realization:
Integrative medicine experts Dr. Marc Cohen (professor of Complementary Medicine at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Dr. Daniel Friedland (president-elect of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, chairman of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine and president and CEO of SuperSmartHealth), and Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier (clinical professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco) served as the key medical consultants for Wellness Evidence. These doctors shaped the portal, selected the databases and ensured the research process aligned with the medical establishment’s use of evidence-based medicine. More on their backgrounds: http://www.wellnessevidence.com/wellnessevidence/our-medical-advisors
Wellness Evidence’s functionality was realized by SelfOptima, a leader in developing technology platforms that use evidence-based medicine to help people optimize their health and wellbeing.
For more info, contact: Beth McGroarty at [email protected] or (+1) 213-300-0107.
About the Global Wellness Institute: The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) is an international think tank that brings together leaders from the private and public sector to positively impact and shape the future of the wellness industry. The GWI is the umbrella organization of the Global Wellness Summit (GWS) and the Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC). The GWI is considered the leading global research and educational resource for the $3.4 trillion worldwide wellness sector.
