LibGuides: Critical Skepticism: Medicine

PubMed

Pub med is now providing information about the funder of research on the results page. This has only been in place for about a year, so older articles do not have funding information, but it is a step in the direction toward greater transparency. Some of the disclosure information may seem unclear to novice users.

PubMed to Include Conflict-of-Interest Statements with Study Abstracts
PubMed, the invaluable federal database of abstracts from medical and life science journals, has started including authors’ conflict-of-interest statements beneath studies’ abstracts on search-result pages.

Current Controversies

Federal Agency Courted Alcohol Industry to Fund Study on Benefits of Moderate Drinking
Scientists and National Institute of Health officials waged a concerted campaign to obtain funding from the alcohol industry for research that may enshrine alcohol as a part of a healthy diet.
This is how much sugar you can have everyday, according to new dietary guidelines.
Sugar has become the principal poison in our diets -- blamed by many nutritionists and public health officials for myriad health ills, including the obesity epidemic and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. But scientists remain split on whether sugar is the cause of these ailments or whether it's part of a larger problem of Americans taking in too many calories.(From the article)
Erickson, J., Sadeghirad, B., Lytvyn, L., Slavin, J., & Johnston, B. C. (2017). The scientific basis of guideline recommendations on sugar intake: A systematic review. Annals of internal medicine, 166(4), 257-267.
Conclusion:
Guidelines on dietary sugar do not meet criteria for trustworthy recommendations and are based on low-quality evidence. Public health officials (when promulgating these recommendations) and their public audience (when considering dietary behavior) should be aware of these limitations.

Primary Funding Source:
Technical Committee on Dietary Carbohydrates of the North American branch of the International Life Sciences Institute.(from the abstract)
Sugar Industry Long Downplayed Potential Harms
The sugar industry funded animal research in the 1960s that looked into the effects of sugar consumption on cardiovascular health — and then buried the data when it suggested that sugar could be harmful...(from the article.

Cycle of Boas

Odierna, D. H., Forsyth, S. R., White, J., & Bero, L. A. (2013). The cycle of bias in health research: a framework and toolbox for critical appraisal training. Accountability in research, 20(2), 127-141.
Abstract: Recognizing bias in health research is crucial for evidence-based decision making. We worked
with eight community groups to develop materials for nine modular, individualized critical appraisal workshops we conducted with 102 consumers (four workshops), 43 healthcare providers (three workshops), and 33 journalists (two workshops) in California. We presented workshops using a “cycle of bias” framework, and developed a toolbox of presentations, problem-based small group sessions, and skill-building materials to improve participants’ ability to evaluate research for financial and other conflicts of interest, bias, validity, and applicability. Participant feedback indicated that the adaptability of the toolbox and our focus on bias were critical elements in the success of our workshops.