Industry Funding and Research Results
Scientific research can be expensive. Funding may come from government agencies, universities, foundations, nonprofit organizations—or companies with a financial interest in the product being studied.
Industry funding does not automatically mean that a study is poorly designed, dishonest, or wrong. However, researchers have found an association between a study’s funding source and the conclusions it reaches.
The Original Study
Lesser LI, Ebbeling CB, Goozner M, Wypij D, Ludwig DS. Relationship Between Funding Source and Conclusion Among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles. PLOS Medicine. 2007;4(1):e5.
The researchers examined 206 scientific articles about the health effects of three commonly consumed types of beverages: soft drinks, juice, and milk. The articles included clinical trials, observational studies, and scientific reviews published from 1999 through 2003.
Of the 206 articles, 111 disclosed financial sponsorship. The researchers classified the articles according to whether they received all industry funding, mixed funding, or no industry funding. Separate groups of investigators evaluated the funding sources and the conclusions.
What the Researchers Found
The odds of an article reaching a conclusion favorable to the sponsor’s financial interests were 7.61 times higher among articles funded entirely by industry than among articles receiving no industry funding.
Among the clinical trials funded entirely by industry, none reached a conclusion unfavorable to the sponsor’s product. Among trials without industry funding, 37 percent reached unfavorable conclusions.
The researchers concluded that industry funding of nutrition-related scientific articles may bias conclusions in favor of sponsors’ products.
What the Study Does Not Prove
The study does not prove that researchers falsified findings or deliberately acted dishonestly. Financial influence can occur in subtler ways, beginning long before the final results are written.
A sponsor may influence which question is studied, which researchers are hired, how long a study lasts, what comparison product is selected, which results receive the most attention, and how the conclusion is worded. Companies also decide which research projects they are willing to fund in the first place.
Questions to Ask
When reading about nutrition research, ask:
- Who paid for the study?
- Did the researchers report other financial relationships?
- What was the product compared with?
- Do other independently funded studies reach similar conclusions?
- Does the conclusion accurately reflect the study’s results?