{"id":22447,"date":"2019-12-16T08:50:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T13:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodpolitics.com\/?p=22447"},"modified":"2019-12-16T14:36:24","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T19:36:24","slug":"22447","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foodpolitics.com\/2019\/12\/22447\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry-funded study of the week: adding pork to a Mediterranean diet"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw this tweet from Washington Post columnist Tamar Haspel<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I took the bait.<\/p>\n

Science Daily <\/a>summarized the study.<\/p>\n

Incorporating 2-3 serves (250g) of fresh lean pork each week, the Mediterranean-Pork (Med-Pork) diet delivers cognitive benefits, while also catering to Western tastes, and ensuring much lower greenhouse-gas emissions than beef production.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the article gave the name of the lead author, Alexandra Wade, and the name of the study, MedPork, I had no trouble finding the actual study.<\/p>\n

The study:<\/strong>\u00a0 A Mediterranean Diet with Fresh, Lean Pork Improves Processing Speed and Mood: Cognitive Findings from the MedPork Randomised Controlled Trial.<\/a>\u00a0 Wade A, et al.\u00a0 Nutrients 2019, 11, 1521; doi:10.3390\/nu11071521.<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong> “Compared to LF [low-fat diet], the MedPork intervention led to higher processing speed\u00a0performance (p = 0.01) and emotional role functioning (p = 0.03).”<\/p>\n

Funding:<\/strong> “This study was funded by the Pork Cooperative Research Centre (#3B-113). The Pork CRC had no role in the study design, implementation, analysis or interpretation of data. Acknowledgments…We would also like to acknowledge the following organisations for their generous contributions: Almond Board of Australia for the donation of almonds; Cobram Estate for the donation of Australian extra virgin olive oil; and Simplot Australia Pty Ltd. for the donation of legumes, tuna and salmon.”<\/p>\n

Comment:<\/strong>\u00a0 This study was so obviously industry-funded that Haspel could tell without even looking at it (the Science Daily article did not mention the funder—it should have).\u00a0 What these investigators did was to add a bit more than half a pound of pork a week to an otherwise healthful diet; They found that people like this diet better than one that is low-fat.\u00a0 Why would anyone do a study like this?\u00a0 I can think of only one reason: to give pork a health aura so you will eat more of it, obviously.<\/p>\n

Addition<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A reader points out that this is not Wade et al’s only sponsored study.\u00a0 Here are some\u00a0 others:<\/p>\n