Influential nutritional research often funded by industry, study finds
BMJ 2007; 334 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39090.483935.4E (Published 11 January 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;334:62All rapid responses
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Sir
It is wrong to conclude that the finding that research funded by the
soft drinks industry has different results from research funded by other
sources implies any bias in the research itself. (BMJ, Jan 2007; 334: 62
; doi:10.1136/bmj.39090.483935.4E) There are two reasons for this.
First, there is the choice of which research to fund. The authors of
the study raise, but do not test, the hypothesis that research likely to
be helpful to industry is more likely to attract its funding. They
therefore have no grounds to reject this hypothesis in favour of the
suggestion that it is the source of funding that determines the outcome of
the research. Maintaining a diversity of sources of funding for
scientific research will ensure that a wider range of research projects
can attract funding.
Secondly, there is the conduct of the research itself. The whole
point of the scientific method is to ensure that research results are not
influenced by the sources of funding. Public scrutiny, including the
processes of publication and peer-review, prevent this from occurring. In
this instance, no evidence that it has occurred has been put forward, and
so there are no grounds for suggesting bias.
The soft drinks industry is required by regulatory authorities to
demonstrate the safety of its products and so has an extensive commitment
to credible and authoritative science.
Yours faithfully
Richard Laming
Public Affairs Manager,
British Soft Drinks Association,
20-22 Stukeley Street,
London WC2B 5LR
Competing interests:
Public Affairs Manager, British Soft Drinks Association, 20-22 Stukeley Street, London WC2B 5LR
Competing interests: No competing interests
Public Health Nutrition and Ethics
Public Health Nutrition and Ethics.
Food and Nutrition is a priority for the European Union (Lang 1999).
As signatories to the International Conference on Nutrition the members
are committed to development of national nutrition policies (WHO-E 1995)
which should include nutritional objectives and strategies. Among the main
points would be food security; promotion of breast feeding; caring for the
socio-economically deprived and nutritionally vulnerable; promoting
appropriate diets; protecting consumers through improved food quality and
safety; improving household food security; preventing and controlling
specific micronutrients deficiencies; assessing, analysing and monitoring
nutrition situations; and preventing and managing infectious diseases. The
US Surgeon General´s Report on Nutrition and Health (1988) included a
chapter on fads and frauds: these fads often make one or more of the
following claims which are without scientific evidence:
Some foods have magical, life-promoting properties; modern foods are
grown on depleted soil, are over processed and, cannot provide good
nutrition; food supplements are always necessary to ensure good nutrition,
and mega doses of nutrients provide "supernutrition".
Lang (1999) points out that the study of the current estimate of the
health burden of EU food policies could be a fruitful line of research:
Only in 1993-1994, for example, the EU spent 390m ECU to buy and destroy
2.5 billion kilos of fruit and vegetables (Whitehead & Nordgren 1996).
Lang says that no estimate has been made of the health gain that could
accrue from the transfer of these products to schoolchildren or low-income
consumers.
Behind a Nutrition Policy there is also an ethical issue. The
destroying of food by the European Union while there are millions of
persons in hunger is a clear contradiction. The scientific community is
involved in a competition of publishing or perishing and sometimes there
are misleading information to consumers about the latest "discovery" which
have not been contrasted, reproduced or submitted to committees which
could support and give scientific evidence to the new findings; Professor
Smith, the former Editor of British Medical Journal is one of the leaders
of the struggle against fraud in science: the example of what happened
with the trial on Indomediterranean Diet, a paper whose data was
inexistent is a paradigm.
Here in Spain we observe with concern how appear new or even imported
foods which never have been in our diet and are wrongly propagated as part
of the so called "Mediterranean Diet" and sometimes we see at the TV how
known researchers defend qualities of these products. There is also a
question of funds for research; the demands from the scientific journals
to researchers of declaration of interests is a healthy procedure to avoid
misinterpretations but not enough. Policy makers are under pressure of
different lobbies of interest: shares of a food company could fall down
only with one press statement of health authorities. Professionals working
in agriculture might face ethical conflicts with products which are being
used as fertilizers, insecticides with hazard residuals; something similar
would happen with the animal industry. These are only a few points for a
whole field, Public Health Nutrition and Ethics.
Lang T. Chapter 11. Food and nutrition. In: Weil O, McKee M, Brodin
M, Oberlé D. Priorities for public health action in the European Union.
EU, Paris, 1999. Pp 138-156.
WHO-E (1995). Nutrition Policy in WHO European member states:
Progress report following the 1992 International Conference of Nutrition.
Copenhagen: World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe,
EUR/ICP/LVNG 94 01/PB04.
The Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health. Washington
1988.
Whitehead M, Nordgren P (eds.). Health impact assessment of the EU
common agricultural policy. F-serien 8. National Institute of Health.
Stockholm, 1996.
Jorge Gomez-Aracena MD, PhD
Ass. Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
University of Málaga, Spain
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests