A new service, www.spaevidence.com, touted as the world's first online resource for medical research relating to the spa and wellness industries, has been launched today (27 July 2011).

Boasting thousands of clinical studies evaluating the effectiveness of approaches such as hydrotherapy, massage or meditation, SpaEvidence.com has been designed to make it easier for wellness and spa professionals to gain access to relevant research.

The service is an initiative of the Global Spa Summit (GSS), an annual event and advocacy organization for the worldwide spa and wellness industries.

While the original brief was to create a database of published research papers which highlight the proven benefits of spa therapies and services, further investigation found that similar databases existed.

Spaevidene.com, therefore, draws upon four pre-existing databases to collate clinical evidence on the efficacy of 22 key spa therapies.

There is also an option to submit papers for review and to access clinical trails devoted to spa/wellness therapies underway worldwide. To submit papers and contact spaevidence.com, click here.

Susie Ellis, the GSS board member who launched it, said: "This will have a real long-term effect as the spa industry increasingly becomes recognised for its part in prevention and the lowering of health care costs."

The idea of spaevidence.com was first proposed at the 2010 GSS in Istanbul by Dr Kenneth Pelletier (see Spa Business, issue 3/2010 p20), an expert in integrative medicine, and backed by spa consultant Dr Geraldine Mitton and Dr Marc Cohen, professor at RMIT University, Australia, and GSS board member.

It was developed over the following year with the support of Pelletier; Cohen; Dr Daniel Friedland, founder and CEO of SuperSmartHealth; and Nader Vasseghi, CEO of SelfOptima - the company which tailored the technology for the platform. For more on SpaEvidence and this year's GSS, look out or the forthcoming Spa Business issue 3 2011 (p. 38).