Sponsorship bias

Growing For Market

Research into the health effects of food is biased by industry funding, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at studies about the health effects of soft drinks, juice and milk and correlated results with the funding source. The researchers found that, overall, there was a strong association between the type of funding available for these articles and the conclusions that were drawn. Articles sponsored exclusively by food/drinks companies were four to eight times more likely to have conclusions favorable to the financial interests of the sponsoring company than articles which were not sponsored by food or drinks companies. http://medicine.plosjournals.org/