The phrase “according to a recent study” bears a lot of
weight in the minds of consumers. Certainly if research has been done proving
that a food can make you better, faster or stronger, it must be true! A recent
blog post from Precision Nutrition's Helen Kollias, challenges this notion and encourages readers to
consider where the funding for the research many trust blindly is coming from.
In "Research, Big Food, and Science: Cooking Up a Conspiracy?" Kollias suggests that the powerful food companies that often fund these
studies have a vested interest in seeing that their newest product comes out on
top. Scientists find themselves in a difficult position- “scientific conflict
of interest.” If their findings are not in favor of the company that funds
them, they run the risk of loosing their grant money.
Scientists sometimes even go so far as to participate in
“ghostwriting.” This is when the company funding the research writes some or
part of the researcher's findings for them and then has the article published
under the name of the scientist. Since one McGill University professor
confessed to being involved in ghostwriting in 2000, dozens of other studies
involving pharmaceutical giant, Wyeth, have been found to have been written in
part or completely by a writing firm Wyeth hired.
Since this controversy, a group called the International
Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) North America Working Group on Guiding
Principles has been put together to address this problem. The team of scientists, government
officials and private company heads has come up with some guidelines to avoid
“scientific conflict of interest.” Some of them include requiring the company
and the research group to write up a contract before research begins, not
getting bonuses for favoring the company’s product and granting control of
research design to the scientist and not the company.
Kollias offers tips for consumers like us
when reading studies. Checking for affiliations at the beginning of articles
can clue you in to who is involved in making the study possible. At the end of
the article before the references appear is a statement regarding where the
scientists are getting their money from.
While it is difficult to remove all bias from studies, being
aware of where these studies are coming from is a great step in becoming a more
informed consumer.
To read the article in its entirety check out http://www.precisionnutrition.com/food-research-conflict.