Let's End Preeclampsia- Without Drugs!
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My goal is to fund a clinical trial using a specific mixture of dietary fats to treat preeclampsia.
Although preeclampsia of pregnancy has been recognized as a human disease for over 2000 years, physicians and researches still do not know its cause. Many of us have been personally touched by this deadly disease as it affects 5-8% of births in the United States and and is responsible for 15% of maternal deaths worldwide. A 2013 episode of Downton Abbey in which Lady Sybil Branson died raised public interest in preeclampsia. Ten years later, the shocking news of Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie’s death from eclampsia brought the sober realization that this disease is still an uncontrolled killer. Presently, the only cure for preeclampsia is to end the pregnancy, sometimes so prematurely that the baby dies or suffers lifelong disability.
From my first encounter with preeclampsia in medical school, I was fascinated. Later, as an obstetrician I noticed a possible correlation between maternal diet and risk of preeclampsia. In 2003 while caring for a young patient who developed a severe form of preeclampsia twelve weeks before her due date, I gave some advice that was contrary to common dietary wisdom at that time: avoid all trans fatty acids, take an omega-3 fatty acid supplement, and enjoy unlimited cholesterol. Following this advice, my patient’s blood pressure, kidney, liver, and neurologic functions returned to normal. Instead of ending the pregnancy at 28 weeks, a healthy baby girl was born eight weeks later.
My struggle to understand the molecular basis of this patient’s remarkable response led me to a deep study of lipid biochemistry and to review thousands of published studies on preeclampsia. Eventually I traveled around the world presenting my studies to other researchers. Although my ideas were “well received”, I was told “it is very difficult to find funding for this type of study”. Because my treatment protocol prescribes safe, everyday fats such as butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and fish oil, it is not possible to patent the treatment nor to generate a large profit, making this study of little interest to profit-seeking pharmaceutical companies.
My dream is to raise $100,000 US to fund a clinical trial (Lipid Intervention in Pregnancy Hypertension) using food grade lipids or fats to treat early preterm preeclampsia. Preeclampsia Foundation has agreed to assist in finding a clinical team to run this study if I am able to raise the funds for the trial.
Thank you for your interest in this project and for spreading the word of a possible treatment. I believe that together we can END PREECLAMPSIA.
For those interested in the specifics of the the molecular basis of this treatment, Here is a link to an article published in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences in May, 2023:
Organizer
Nancy Hart
Organizer
Bellingham, WA