Bias in nutrition research

One of the most confronting things I have discovered this year is just how pervasive big agri-business is in spreading misleading nutritional information. One way they do this is to fund or sponsor research studies (see video above). Although it is at the end of the book, one of The China Study's most interesting sections was about this. Not only do the big dairy, meat, egg, etc companies and associations sponsor research that just happens to come out with favourable results, but they have representatives on all the important decision-making boards, committees, councils, including those that formulate dietary recommendations, such as the food pyramid taught in schools. If I had not read about it from a reputable source and seen it corroborated numerous times since, I would have just put it down to crazy conspiracy theorists, but it is scarily true. Do you find it hard to believe that dairy can really be that bad for you? Where does this warm and fuzzy glow about dairy come from? In part, taste preferences dictated by our hard-wired tendency to seek high calorie, high fat, high protein, animal-based foods. But, we are also assaulted from a young age by dietary recommendations and advertising telling us that dairy is an essential part of a healthy diet - recommendations drafted with the help of dairy industry representatives!

Well, most of the detailed information in this area comes from the USA. It couldn't be that bad here in Australia, could it? Wrong! Here is a recent example I saw; Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) fund research projects each year. This is a small blurb circulated around university research offices earlier this year:

MLA's Human Nutrition Research Program is seeking applications for expressions of interest for research projects which will increase understanding of the Nutritional value of red meat, contribution of red meat to health and effective, healthy and sustainable red meat dietary strategies for promoting health and managing health conditions

How unbiased could the research possibly be when the grant descriptions are as loaded and directional as this? Oh, and by the way, you can read more here, including how the Australian Government matches MLA funding dollar-for-dollar. That's right, our tax dollars go towards helping a red meat industry body fund studies "to provide credible and sound nutrition evidence to support the essential role of Australian red meat in a healthy diet." Meanwhile, billions more of our tax dollars go to treating cancers every year, with even the very conservative Cancer Council admitting that red meat consumption is associated with increased cancer risk.