10 Nutrition Studies Funded by Big Business

  Where Does That Food Claim Come From?

Few areas of health research are as complex and contentious

as nutrition science. Adding industry funding to the mix only increases the complexity — and the controversy. The New York Times recently revealed that Coca Cola is the financial driving force behind the non-profit Energy Balance Network, which promotes studies showing that too little exercise is causing obesity, while overeating and sugary drinks play little to no role in weight gain. It’s not uncommon for food and beverage companies to fund research that reaches conclusions, conveniently, that benefit the industry. In fact, it’s rare enough for industry-funded studies to result in a conclusion showing a negative health effect that such studies make the news when they do.

Conclusions that benefit industry groups are not necessarily wrong or inaccurate, however, and the studies are not necessarily poor quality (though other times they certainly are). The challenge is figuring out how much to trust industry-funded studies that consistently find … convenient results.

Here are 10 studies funded by industry, and what they found. All of these studies, published in 2015, were selected from the ongoing list tracked at the blog of Marion Nestle, PhD, a professor of nutrition at New York University (not related to the Nestlé company).