Cornell University has issued a statement concluding that alleged statistical errors in studies authored by Brian Wansink, director of the university’s Food and Brand Lab, “did not constitute scientific misconduct.” Known for his work focused on how ads, packaging and other factors influence eating behavior, Wansink reportedly attracted criticism after he published a blog post about how his lab conducted statistical analysis in one study. A group of outside researchers then ran their own analysis on the data, purportedly documenting 150 errors in four papers published by Wansink’s group. According to Cornell, the internal investigation has resulted in the implementation of new research procedures at the Food and Brand Lab. “These strict procedures are designed not only to prevent the type of oversights and errors noted here from occurring in the future, but also to create a convenient system for anonymizing and cataloguing data so that this background information can…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
A study has purportedly suggested that antibiotic treatments for foulbrood and other pathogens can disrupt the gut microbiota of honeybees, increasing their susceptibility to opportunistic bacterial infections. Kasie Raymann, et al., “Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees,” PLoS Biology, March 2017. To examine the effects of common bee antibiotics, University of Texas researchers followed specimens from a single hive that received either sugar water or tetracycline. Their results evidently showed “that honeybees treated with antibiotics and returned to the hive had decreased survivorship when compared to untreated bees.” The authors further note, “Control bees had, on average, five times more bacterial cells in their guts than bees treated with tetracycline.” Tetracycline also failed to eliminate the targeted bacterial species in the treated bees, raising questions among the researchers about antibiotic resistance in domestic bee populations. “The aim of the study was for us to better…
Responding to food manufacturers’ requests, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published industry guidance to clarify when fruit and vegetable juices “may be used as color additives for foods without additional premarket review and approval from the agency under its color additive petition process.” Under current regulations, the agency provides that “the safety of fruit juice and vegetable juice as color additives for use in food is assured by the fact that the fruit or vegetable from which the color additive is derived has been safely consumed as food, such that there would not be safety concerns in using the juice or water soluble color components from the fruit or vegetable as a color additive.” In particular, FDA clarifies what it means by the terms “fruit,” “vegetable,” “mature,” “fresh,” and “edible,” as well as “expressing the juice” and “water infusion of the dried fruit or vegetable.” The agency…
After analyzing food and beverage industry responses to a 2015 consultation by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, researchers with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have claimed that product reformulation—“the process of altering a food or beverage product’s recipe or composition to improve the product’s health profile”—“has been largely voluntary.” C. Scott, et al., “Food and beverage product reformulation as a corporate political strategy,” Social Science & Medicine, November 2016. Part of a larger research project seeking to explore the “political aspects of product reformulation” to inform the debate about obesity and non-communicable diseases, the study purportedly identifies common themes among respondents, such as messages that focus on “positive” nutrients, companies being “part of the solution and not the problem,” voluntary governance and individual responsibility. In contrast to those who view product reformulation as a “win-win” strategy, the authors suggest that it “may be one part of…
The RAND Corp. has published a study claiming that “most kids’ menu items offered by the nation’s top 200 restaurant chains exceed the calorie counts recommended by nutrition experts,” according to a December 5, 2016, press release. Relying on the recommendations of 15 child nutrition experts—including Public Health Institute Advisor Lynn Silver and Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity Director Marlene Schwartz—the study authors adopted the following benchmarks: (i) a maximum of 300 calories for the main dishes in children’s meals; (ii) 100 calories for a serving of fried potatoes; (iii) 150 calories for soups, appetizers and snacks; and (iv) 150 calories for vegetables and salads that included added sauces, with the entire meal not to exceed 600 calories. The study singles out fried potatoes as the item “that most often exceeded the calorie guidelines.” As the authors conclude, “Given the high frequency of children dining away from home,…
The University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has published a study on student and parent perceptions of competitive foods and beverages sold in schools under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smart Snack nutrition standards. Jennifer Harris, et al., “Effects of Offering Look-Alike Products as Smart Snacks in Schools,” Childhood Obesity, September 2016. After soliciting feedback from 659 students ages 13-17 and 859 parents, the study authors report that students could not distinguish between products sold in stores and reformulated “look-alike” versions sold in schools unless the two were placed side-by-side. The study also notes that parents and students “tended to rate the look-alike and store versions of less nutritious snack brands as similar in healthfulness, whereas they tended to view the repackaged Smart Snacks that emphasized improved nutrition as healthier.” In addition, most participants “inaccurately believed they had seen look-alike Smart Snacks for sale in stores”…
Researchers with the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics have authored a study claiming that adolescents are less likely to purchase sugary beverages that carry warning labels. Eric VanEpps and Christina Roberto, “The Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warnings,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, September 2016. The study asked 2,202 adolescents ages 12-18 to imagine selecting one of 20 popular 20-ounce beverages from a vending machine. This digital survey included 12 sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) that displayed (i) no warning label, (ii) a calorie label, or (iii) one of four labels warning that SSBs contribute to (a) “obesity, diabetes and tooth decay”; (b) “weight gain, diabetes and tooth decay”; (c) “preventable diseases like obesity, diabetes and tooth decay”; or (d) “obesity, Type 2 diabetes and tooth decay.” The results evidently suggested that “77 percent of participants who saw no label said they would select…
A study commissioned by the International Food Additives Council (IFAC) has claimed that when used as a gelling or thickening agent in foods, carrageenan (CGN) causes no adverse effects in human cells. James McKim, Jr., et al., “Effects of carrageenan on cell permeability, cytotoxicity, and cytokine gene expression in human intestinal and hepatic cell lines,” Food and Chemical Toxicology, July 2016. After testing three forms of carrageenan in vitro to evaluate “intestinal permeability, cytotoxicity, and CGN-mediated induction of proinflammatory cytokines,” researchers evidently concluded that intestinal cells did not absorb CGN, which, in turn, was not cytotoxic and did not induce oxidative stress or inflammation. “This study was unable to reproduce any of the previously reported in vitro findings. As a result, it is unlikely that CGN causes inflammation or that it disrupts insulin signaling pathways reported by Bhattacharyya et al. (2012),” note the study’s authors. “This work also demonstrates that…
The National Academies Press (NAP) has published a report summarizing a March 2015 workshop held by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on The Interplay Between Environmental Chemical Exposures and Obesity. The report summarizes both animal model and human epidemiological studies allegedly linking exposure to environmental chemicals “to weight gain and to glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and other aspects of the metabolic syndrome.” It also examines the “possible biological pathways and mechanisms underlying the potential linkages.” Noting the purported efforts of so-called endocrine disruptors during prenatal and early childhood development, the report focuses on the increase in chemical production alongside obesity rates and raises questions about the metabolic effects of various substances such as “organophosphates and carbamates; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polybrominated biphenyls and fire retardants; heavy metals; solvents; and plastics, such as phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA).” In addition, the report addresses the potential role of infectious…
Taking issue with language that only loosely links alcohol consumption to increased cancer incidence, an article in the July 2016 issue of Addiction suggests that 5.8 percent of all cancer deaths worldwide are caused by alcohol-attributable cancers of the oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and female breast. Jennie Connor, “Alcohol consumption as a cause of cancer,” Addiction, July 2016. After reviewing “meta-analyses identified from the Medline database and the archives of the International Agency for Research on Cancer,” a researcher with the University of Otago’s Department of Preventive and Social Medicine reports a “dose–response relationship” between alcohol consumption and cancer, “without evidence of threshold of effect” and regardless of beverage type. “Expressions such as ‘alcohol-related cancer’, ‘alcohol-attributable cancer’ and the effect of alcohol on ‘the risk of cancer’ incorporate an implicit causal association, but are easily interpreted as something less than cancer being caused by drinking,” opines the study…
