Houston (United States) (AFP)

The large American university, Texas A&M, questioned that of Harvard, after researchers from Texas A&M were accused of conflicts of interest in a study that downplayed the risks of red meat, and which had caused a stir in October.

The chancellor of the famous Texas A&M, John Sharp, wrote an open letter on Wednesday to the president of the prestigious Harvard university, Lawrence Bacow, in order to complain about the statements of several Harvard teachers. The latter had accused study authors of not having declared their links with a Texas A&M program funded in part by the beef lobby.

"I can assure you that Texas A&M research is guided by science, period," wrote John Sharp, who accuses Harvard researchers of "unethical" acts.

The study in question was a synthesis of multiple past studies on the effects of eating red meat and cold meats on the risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. It concluded that the increase in risk was too small to justify the universally lavished recommendations by public health agencies, that the consumption of red meat and cold meats should be minimized. A conclusion that had caused a storm.

A few weeks later, it was revealed that the lead author of the synthesis, Bradley Johnston, a professor at Dalhousie University in Canada and head of the NutriRECS group that carried out the study, had previously received funding from the Texas program.

The journal that published the study, Annals of Internal Medicine, estimated that the authors should have declared these financial ties, in the name of transparency. She posted a correction on December 31 to report them.

The organization True Health Initiative, with which several Harvard researchers are associated, had then written on its site, in January, that the study represented "yet another blow to public confidence in the science of nutrition, which which may have been the primary purpose of the authors. "

The New York Times had also established that Bradley Johnston had in the past received funding from ILSI, an organization funded by the food industry, for a study which concluded that the recommendations on reducing the consumption of sugars were little justified. He himself denied any conflict of interest in his research.

© 2020 AFP