Community Garden Magazine Issue Ten June 2016 Community Garden Magazine Issue Ten June 2016 | Page 32
Press through records requests with public universities as part of an investigation into how
food companies influence thinking about healthy eating.
One of the industry's most powerful tactics is the funding of nutrition research. It carries
the weight of academic authority, becomes a part of scientific literature and generates
headlines.
"Hot oatmeal breakfast keeps you fuller for longer," declared a Daily Mail article on a study
funded by Quaker Oats.
"Study: Diet beverages better for losing weight than water," said a CBS Denver story about
research funded by Coke and Pepsi's lobbying group.
The studies have their defenders.
Food companies say they follow guidelines to ensure scientific integrity, and that academics
have the right to publish no matter what they find. Many in the research world also see
industry funding as critical for advancing science as competition for government funding has
intensified.
It's not surprising that companies would pay for research likely to show the benefits of
their products. But critics say the worry is that they're hijacking science for marketing
purposes, and that they cherry-pick or hype findings.
The thinner-children-ate-candy research is an example. It was drawn from a government
database of surveys that asks people to recall what they ate in the past 24 hours. The
data "may not reflect usual intake" and "cause and effect associations cannot be drawn," the
candy paper authors wrote in a section about the stu dy's limitations.
The candy association's press release did not mention that and declared, "New study shows
children and adolescents who eat candy are less overweight or obese."
The headline at cbsnews.com: "Does candy keep kids from getting fat?"
Carol O'Neil, the LSU professor who made the "thin and clearly padded" remark, told The
Associated Press through a university representative that data can be "publishable" even if
it's thin. In a phone interview a week later, she said she did not recall why she made the
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