More from the NYT (sorry about the paywall). The article is entitled "Scientist who Discredited Meat Guidelines Didn't report Past Food Industry Ties" is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/w...gtype=Homepage
The researcher in question is Dr. Bradley C. Johnson. Some brief quotes from the article:
1) (Dr. Johnson) said he did not report his past relationship with ILSI [an industry group largely supported by agribusiness, food and pharmaceutical companies and whose member have included McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cargill] because the disclosure form asked only about potential conflicts within the past three years. Although the ILSI-funded study publication [published in 12/2016] falls within the three-year window, he said the money from ILSI arrived in 2015, and he was not required to report it for the meat study disclosure.
2) But as recently as December 2016 (Dr. Johnson) was the senior author on a similar study that tried to discredit international health guidelines advising people to eat less sugar.
My comments:
To clarify, the ILSI funding was, best I can tell, only for the sugar study. I cannot tell who funded the meat study.
If you can read the article, you'll see plenty of gray areas, so it isn't at all clear that there was any nefarious activity here; nonetheless, my thinking about it reaffirms my long-held position: do not take any single study, especially in soft sciences like nutrition, as gospel.
The researcher in question is Dr. Bradley C. Johnson. Some brief quotes from the article:
1) (Dr. Johnson) said he did not report his past relationship with ILSI [an industry group largely supported by agribusiness, food and pharmaceutical companies and whose member have included McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cargill] because the disclosure form asked only about potential conflicts within the past three years. Although the ILSI-funded study publication [published in 12/2016] falls within the three-year window, he said the money from ILSI arrived in 2015, and he was not required to report it for the meat study disclosure.
2) But as recently as December 2016 (Dr. Johnson) was the senior author on a similar study that tried to discredit international health guidelines advising people to eat less sugar.
My comments:
To clarify, the ILSI funding was, best I can tell, only for the sugar study. I cannot tell who funded the meat study.
If you can read the article, you'll see plenty of gray areas, so it isn't at all clear that there was any nefarious activity here; nonetheless, my thinking about it reaffirms my long-held position: do not take any single study, especially in soft sciences like nutrition, as gospel.
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