Industry-sponsored beverage studies yield frequent positive results; raise conflicts of interest

Breaking News for Saturday, November 22, 2008 Teen Committing Live Web Cam Suicide Was Taking Antidepressant Medications Busted! NPR Radio Doc Caught with Undisclosed Financial Ties to Big Pharma Antidepressant Drugs Destroy DNA of Sperm Bush to End Protection of Endangered Animals Before Leaving Office Type-2 Diabetes Causes Severely Impaired Brain Processing Speed      See all Breaking News... FREE Natural Health Newsletter Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts. Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed Products Related to This Article* • Appetite for Profit (free download) Free download summary of this top book for discovering the truth about food companies • Boku Superfood High-potency superfood powder for preventing numerous diseases • Spirulina Pacifica Pure, pristine spirulina superfood for cancer prevention, alkalizing, immune func * Recommended by the Health Ranger. See more recommendations on right → Articles Related to This Article: • Disease-promoting ingredients in everyday foods and groceries are far more dangerous than terrorists • The unauthorized history of Coca-Cola (satire) • Medical Centers Vary In Disclosing Conflicts Of Interest (press release)

Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston -- led by nutrition researcher Dr. David Ludwig -- analyzed 111 studies of beverages published between Jan. 1, 1999, and Dec. 31, 2003, and found that the rate of favorable findings in studies paid for by the beverage industry was much higher than that of non-industry-funded studies.

Ludwig and colleagues chose to focus their study on the beverage industry partly because soda, milk and juice drinks are all aggressively marketed to children. If the findings of an industry-sponsored study are skewed because of the source of the study's funding, children stand to be negatively affected.

"Conflicts of interest in pharmaceutical research could affect millions of people taking medicines," Ludwig said. "Conflicts of interest in nutrition research could affect the health of everyone because we all eat."

Ludwig's team examined the conclusions of the studies for favorable, neutral or negative results for the beverage industry, then checked the studies' funding. The researchers found that the beverage industry paid fully for 22 percent of the studies, while partly funding an additional 32 percent of studies.

When Ludwig and colleagues examined only studies that reached a positive conclusion, they found studies entirely sponsored with beverage industry money were up to eight times more likely to result in industry-favorable conclusions than studies not funded by the industry.

Ludwig's team also found that when the industry funded studies that directly affected participants' health -- such as giving them a drink and measuring health effects -- all studies reached industry-positive results, whereas 37 percent of such studies that were not funded by the beverage industry reached negative conclusions.

The American Beverage Association and the Dairy Council questioned the results of Ludwig's study, claiming his research was biased and incomplete. ABA president Susan K. Neely said Ludwig's study is "yet another attack on industry by activists who demonstrate their own biases in their review by looking only at the funding source and not judging the research on its merits."

However, New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle said she was "glad" Ludwig published his study, because "food companies have only one purpose in funding research, and that's to use the results in marketing. If they can't use the results in marketing, then they're not going to fund it."

###
Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Disease-promoting ingredients in everyday foods and groceries are far more dangerous than terrorists • The unauthorized history of Coca-Cola (satire) • Medical Centers Vary In Disclosing Conflicts Of Interest (press release)	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/021432.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/021432.html">Industry-sponsored beverage studies yield frequent positive results; raise conflicts of interest</a>