At last: two industry-funded studies with results that do NOT favor the sponsor’s interest
As regular readers know, I’ve been posting studies funded by food companies with results favorable to the companies’ interests whenever I run across five of them. Since mid-March, I’ve posted 7 such collections for a total of 37 studies (two of the posts listed 6 studies). These are all papers published since March.
With each set, I asked readers to send examples of studies that do not favor the sponsor’s interest.
They are rare, but do exist. I’ve been sent two so far. I’m guessing it will be a long time before I collect five, so have a look:
Butter increased total and LDL cholesterol compared with olive oil however resulted in higher HDL cholesterol than habitual diet. Sara Engel and Tine Tholstrup. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2015, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.112227.
- Conclusions: Moderate intake of butter resulted in increases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol compared with the effects of olive oil intake and a habitual diet (run-in period). Furthermore, moderate butter intake was also followed by an increase in HDL cholesterol compared with the habitual diet. We conclude that hypercholesterolemic people should keep their consumption of butter to a minimum, whereas moderate butter intake may be considered part of the diet in the normocholesterolemic population.
- Sponsor: Danish Dairy Research Foundation
- Comment: The data clearly show that butter raises blood cholesterol levels. The authors spin it as positively as possible—higher HDL and it’s OK for people with normal cholesterol to eat moderate amounts of butter—but they make the downside quite clear. In this study, “moderate” butter means 4.5% of calories or just 2/3 of a tablespoon for someone eating 2000 calories. That’s not much, alas.
Influence of Pistachios on Performance and Exercise-Induced Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Immune Dysfunction, and Metabolite Shifts in Cyclists: A Randomized, Crossover Trial. David C. Nieman, Johannes Scherr, Beibei Luo, Mary Pat Meaney, Didier Dréau, Wei Sha, Dustin A. Dew, Dru A. Henson, Kirk L. Pappan. PLoS One, November 19, 2014. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113725
- Conclusion: In summary, 2-weeks pistachio nut ingestion was associated with reduced 75-km cycling time trial performance and increased post-exercise plasma levels of raffinose, sucrose, and metabolites related to leukotoxic effects and oxidative stress.
- Funder: This work was supported by American Pistachio Growers. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
- Comment: It’s obvious that the funders had no role. I’ll bet they are quite unhappy with the results.
This second study came out last year but I’ll take any of these I can get. Please do send.
But if I’m just counting since March, the ratio is 37 studies favoring the sponsor’s interest, to 1 that doesn’t. Coincidence? I’m not convinced.
