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Conflicts of Interest in Dietary Supplementation Research

December 17, 20243 min readAdam Schorr

Scientific research is not free from conflicts of interest (COIs) with primary research focusing on drugs, devices, or surgical procedures having COI rate of around 26.6% [1]. A recommended approach to remediate issues associated with conflicts of interest is to improve disclosure of COI [2]. To plainly indicate COI, which may be hidden, we analyze the research papers in the Supplement AI database to disclose COI if found. However, COI may be intentionally hidden and cannot be analyzed.

COI and Bias

To find COI, Supplement AI extracts industry funding by evaluating declared funding sources, declared conflicts of interest, and author affiliations. We define industry funding as research that demonstrates financial ties with dietary supplement, pharmaceutical, or nutrition companies. The relationship between bias and industry funding is debated, but numerous studies have shown that industry funding is associated with biased interpretations and results. For example, Als-Nielsen et al. (2003) found that trials funded by for-profit organizations are more positive, likely due to biased interpretation of trial results [3]. Yank et al. (2007) also demonstrated that financial ties between researchers and funders were often linked to more favorable conclusions, even when the actual data did not support such conclusions [4]. Friedman et al. (2004) observed a strong association between studies whose authors had COI and reported positive findings in those studies [5].

Industry funding has potential to cause bias; however, industry funding does not inherently invalidate a study's findings or guarantee bias. Conflicts of interest due to industry funding do not directly cause bias in study design [6]. Additionally, industry funding is important and sometimes necessary to carry out significant research.

How to Use the COI Label

The COI label indicates that a paper has conflicts of interest, meaning that it has financial ties with industry companies. With this, Supplement AI and you should explore the study design, results, and conclusions to determine if the intervention is what caused the outcome or if biases led to inaccurate outcomes.

Abbreviations

  • COI: Conflict of Interest

References

  1. Grundy Q, Dunn AG, Bourgeois FT, Coiera E, Bero L. Prevalence of Disclosed Conflicts of Interest in Biomedical Research and Associations With Journal Impact Factors and Altmetric Scores. JAMA. 2018;319(4):408–409. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.20738
  2. Dunn, A.G., Coiera, E., Mandl, K.D. et al. Conflict of interest disclosure in biomedical research: a review of current practices, biases, and the role of public registries in improving transparency. Res Integr Peer Rev 1, 1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-016-0006-7
  3. Als-Nielsen B, Chen W, Gluud C, Kjaergard LL. Association of Funding and Conclusions in Randomized Drug Trials: A Reflection of Treatment Effect or Adverse Events? JAMA. 2003;290(7):921–928. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.290.7.921
  4. Yank V, Rennie D, Bero LA. Financial ties and concordance between results and conclusions in meta-analyses: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2007 Dec 8;335(7631):1202-5. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39376.447211.BE
  5. Friedman LS, Richter ED. Relationship between conflicts of interest and research results. J Gen Intern Med. 2004 Jan;19(1):51-6. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2004.30617.x
  6. Mela, David J. "Conflicts of Interest in Nutrition: Categorical Thinking and the Stigma of Commercial Collaboration." Current Developments in Nutrition, vol. 8, no. 8, August 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104413
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