Food industry sponsorship of academic research: investigating commercial bias in the research agenda

Public Health Nutrition
Alice FabbriL A Bero

Abstract

To identify scientific publications that result from food industry-funded projects on human health and to characterize their research topics to assess the potential for bias in the research agenda. Cross-sectional analysis.Setting/SubjectsFood industry-supported projects related to human health were identified from food company websites; publications resulting from the food industry-sponsored projects were identified through a PubMed search. Of ten companies analysed, only two (Coca-Cola and the Mars Center for Cocoa Health Science) provided a list of research projects with sufficient detail for analysis. Among the 204 publications resulting from thirty-seven disclosed research projects, the most common topic was physical activity (40·7 %), while highly processed foods were analysed in 10·8 % of the publications. Twenty-two publications (10·8 %) focused on research integrity or research methods. Publications resulting from Coca-Cola- and Mars-sponsored research appear to skew the evidence towards solutions that favour industry interests by focusing on food components that can be manipulated and marketed by food companies. These food industry-funded publications can also distract from nutrition as a health issue by diverting pub...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Dec 19, 2019·The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews·Jai K DasZulfiqar A Bhutta
Sep 6, 2019·History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences·Inmaculada de Melo-Martín
May 31, 2019·Health Research Policy and Systems·Elie A Akl, Assem M Khamis
Jun 9, 2020·Omics : a Journal of Integrative Biology·Mustafa BayramVural Özdemir
Sep 8, 2019·European Journal of Pediatrics·Simona Di MarioUNKNOWN and the Regional breastfeeding monitoring group
Apr 18, 2019·BMJ : British Medical Journal·Lisa A BeroMark A Lawrence
Jun 27, 2019·Obesity Reviews : an Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity·Melissa MialonGary Fooks
Oct 30, 2020·Public Health Nutrition·Mélissa MialonGabriela Rivas-Mariño
Dec 9, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Benjamin WoodGary Sacks
Aug 20, 2021·Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism = Physiologie Appliquée, Nutrition Et Métabolisme·Ana Carolina Barco LemeJess Haines

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