Press Release: For Immediate Release
Vancouver, Canada- The Rouxbe Online Culinary School announced plans today to begin an innovative prospective Culinary Rx study in collaboration with the Phoenix VA Health Care System.
Lead researchers at the Phoenix VA Health Care System in Phoenix, Arizona, are Diane Parrington, Ph.D.; Julie Kurtz, MS, RD, CDE; and Raymond Migrino, MD. Together, they will coordinate a novel prospective study arm designed as a head-to-head comparison of the Culinary Rx online program to the existing VA Health Care System TeleMOVE program, a lifestyle/weight management program initiated in 2006.
Eighty volunteer veterans will be randomized to either the Culinary Rx or TeleMOVE groups for 90 days, and biometric measures and cardiovascular risk markers will be compared. Additionally, a subset of the patients will undergo a novel PET/MRI imaging study. This PET/MRI imaging is unique in that it allows for evaluation of plaque burden and inflammation.
Culinary Rx, a unique collaborative project between Rouxbe and The Plantrician Project, is the definitive online course that helps to equip healthcare professionals with a key prescribable educational resource that enables patients to transform their personal health. The 60-day online transitional cooking and nutritional education program teaches the core dietary principles inherent in moving away from foods that harm, to foods that truly have the power to heal and drive optimal health combined with key culinary skills to support a sustainable life application. Currently, more than 2,300 people have completed the Culinary Rx course and 89 percent reported increased motivation to adopt a healthier lifestyle, 92 percent reported improved confidence in cooking skills, 50 percent lost weight during the 60-day course and 99 percent would recommend the Culinary Rx course to others.
Rouxbe president and CEO Joe Girard remarked, “This is an incredible opportunity for us to work with an amazing, top-level research team to evaluate and document the short-, medium-, and long-term health benefits of the Culinary Rx.”
Dr. Scott Stoll, Rouxbe chief medical director, commented on the study, “The dedicated and talented research team at the Phoenix VA Health Care System has created a unique study protocol that will put the Culinary Rx program to the test, and through novel imaging of the blood vessels they will be able to document anatomic and physiologic changes that correlate with the biometric changes common with a plant-based dietary change.”
Rouxbe, the world’s leading online culinary school with more than 300,000 students in 180 countries, (www.rouxbe.com) and The Plantrician Project (www.plantricianproject.org), creators of the Culinary Rx program, are dedicated to the development of tools, educational resources, and online education to assist people and health professionals in the transition to a healthy, whole food, plant-based diet.
For more information:
Contact Joe Girard, CEO, and co-founder of the Rouxbe Online Culinary School
Scott Stoll, MD, Chief Medical Director
Diane Parrington, Ph.D., Deputy Associate Chief of Staff Research, Phoenix VA Health Care System
