Lucas M. Conflicts of interest in nutritional sciences: The forgotten bias in meta-analysis. World J Methodol 2015; 5(4): 175-178 [PMID: 26713276 DOI: 10.5662/wjm.v5.i4.175]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Michel Lucas, Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, 2875 Laurier Blvd., Delta 2 Building, Suite 600, Québec G1V 2M2, Canada. michel.lucas@crchuq.ulaval.ca
Research Domain of This Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Methodol. Dec 26, 2015; 5(4): 175-178 Published online Dec 26, 2015. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v5.i4.175
Conflicts of interest in nutritional sciences: The forgotten bias in meta-analysis
Michel Lucas
Michel Lucas, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec G1V 2M2, Canada
Michel Lucas, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Author contributions: Lucas M conceived the idea of the manuscript, interpreted the data and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: (1) Dr. Lucas is Assistant Professor at Université Laval since July 2012, and Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Full salary of Dr. Lucas comes from Université Laval and CHU de Québec, and is cover by a salary award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS); (2) Between 1999 and 2012, while he was a student, Dr. Lucas often spoke at conferences (mainly on omega-3 fatty acids). His honoraria and expenses were covered by private industries. He has never received research funding from private industries; (3) Dr. Lucas has no relationships with entities that might have an interest in the submitted work; (4) Dr. Lucas’ spouse, children and partners have no financial relationships with the submitted work; and (5) Dr. Lucas does not have any non-financial interests in the submitted work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Michel Lucas, Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, 2875 Laurier Blvd., Delta 2 Building, Suite 600, Québec G1V 2M2, Canada. michel.lucas@crchuq.ulaval.ca
Telephone: +1-418-5254444 Fax: +1-418-6542726
Received: May 22, 2015 Peer-review started: May 22, 2015 First decision: August 19, 2015 Revised: September 14, 2015 Accepted: September 29, 2015 Article in press: September 30, 2015 Published online: December 26, 2015 Processing time: 207 Days and 8.3 Hours
Abstract
Awareness of conflicts of interest (COI) in medicine began in the 1980s. More recently, the problem has gained notoriety in nutritional sciences. COI with industry could bias study conclusions in the context of research activities and scientific publications on nutritional sciences. The issue of COI in nutritional sciences deserves more attention and requires careful analyses as biased information can negatively impact the development of dietary guidelines and, ultimately, population health. Decision-making is generally based on available, published evidence, but when the results are ambivalent, it is easier to opt for the status quo and ask for more studies. Readers might wonder if research is subsidized by industry as a counterbalancing strategy based on levels of evidence-only to slow down eminent positions and/or legislation on the food sector? How can this problem be overcome without producing paranoia and McCarthyism while trying to be as methodological as possible?
Core tip: Decision-making in the field of nutrition is based on published evidence, but when results are ambivalent, it is easier to opt for the status quo and ask for more studies. Because conflicts of interest (COI) in nutritional sciences can bias conclusions and negatively impact dietary recommendations and population health, it deserves more attention and requires careful analyses. To regard evidence properly and in a rigorous manner, COI in systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be evaluated systematically to guarantee the trustworthiness of nutrition-related studies, and must therefore be obligatory sub-analyses to reduce the risk of bias in data interpretation.
