About NHRI

How It Started

At the May 2002 American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) Symposium in Montreal, Dr. Bruce. Holub, PhD,  presented his research on the benefits of omega-3 for heart health.  After the presentation, Elwood Richard, founder of NOW Foods, met with Dr. Holub to see if an organization could be formed to publicize the life-saving potential of this type of research.  Dr. Holub met with James Turner of Citizens for Health (CFH), a health freedom advocacy group, and the NOW Foods Advocacy Team to develop this organization.  

The new organization was formed as a non-profit division of Citizens for Health and was named the Citizens for Health Education Foundation. Its initial goal was to reduce the ten leading causes of death by cost-effective natural means. The Natural Health Research Institute was established as a separate 501c3 non-profit on December 3, 2008.   

Dr. Rick Sharpee, PhD, became the NHRI Managing Director of Business Development in 2010 and was promoted to President in 2014. Dr. Sharpee retired from his role in 2023 and Dr. Yalda Shokooh, PharmD, PhD, became the new Executive Director.  

What We Post

Articles posted on our website are abstracted from articles published in peer-reviewed journals. They are abstracted by our writing staff, who have degrees in biochemistry, medicine, and nutrition.  To qualify for posting, articles are reviewed by our staff editor and  our technical editor, Dr. Patrick Massey, MD, PhD.  Dr. Massey is on our Managing Board and Scientific Advisory Board. 

There are currently close to 2000 articles on our website on a wide variety of health topics.  To assure freedom from bias, we do not permit commercial messages. 

Conferences & Webinars

The Natural Health Research Institute has been sponsoring conferences since 2004 and webinars since 2018.  These educational events provide a forum for leading researchers to present research on the benefits of natural nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Topics of past events include Cystic Fibrosis research, nutritional therapy for ADHD, the impact of nutrition on cancer progression, and the therapeutic potential of microbiomes.  View conference proceedings. 

Newsletter

We publish a monthly newsletter on natural health topics with feature articles and recent postings.  Click here to sign up.