About us
We're Plants for health
Our mission
To empower people with chronic conditions to take control of their health—using evidence-based lifestyle changes.
How we do that:
Scientic research
We’ve spent years researching the impact of lifestyle interventions on chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and outcomes related to metabolic syndrome. Soon, a new study will begin—exploring the effects of our approach on Parkinson’s disease and atrial fibrillation. → research
Education
We regularly give presentations to medical professionals in training, researchers, and patient advocacy groups. In addition, we frequently publish our findings and maintain an active presence on social media. → media
Patient care
We offer our evidence-based Plants for Health program—a comprehensive 12-month journey that helps participants make meaningful lifestyle changes. The result? Significant and lasting improvements in health and well-being. → program
Meet the founders
Wendy Walrabenstein, PhD
Registered nutritionist and researcher
After studying economics, Wendy worked in international finance for 15 years. After this, she became a registered dietitian and wrote the Dutch book Food Body Mind. As a PhD candiate at Amsterdam UMC, she conducted the Plants for Joints study at Reade in Amsterdam with Carlijn Wagenaar and a team of health professionals under the supervision of Prof. Dirkjan van Schaardenburg. Wendy received her PhD in January 2023 and is chair of the Physicians Association for Nutrition International.
Carlijn Wagenaar, MD
Medical doctor and researcher
After a childhood centered around sports in the United States, Carlijn graduated from medical school in Groningen, the Netherlands. Carlijn became passionate about using lifestyle to help treat and prevent chronic diseases, and after medical school joined the Plants for Joints study as a PhD student. She will defend her PhD in November 2025. Carlijn was a board member of the Physicians Association for Nutrition in the Netherlands.
Prof. Dirkjan Van Schaardenburg
Rheumatologist and emeritus professor
In my years of practice as a rheumatologist, I saw that patients often suffered from medication side effects. Many of my patients didn’t want to take the medication at all, but often there is no other choice. As a result, for years I’ve been interested in other ways to treat rheumatic diseases. For osteoarthritis, there weren’t many treatment options except for painkillers.
Meanwhile, after many years of scientific research, the Plants for Health program was developed. The results are very encouraging and we get a lot of positive feedback from research participants. Another aspect is that this makes an important contribution to reducing healthcare costs.