Don’t believe everything you read, warn experts
Scientists may be as confused as the public by misleading reports about the disease-preventing properties of various food stuffs, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Many scientists are prone to regurgitating old evidence, even when newer research contradicts it, explains John Ioannidis, who led the study. ‘Across all topics, no matter whether you look early or late after the contradiction, there is a section of the scientific literature that continues to pretty strongly support the original claims’, he said.
The researchers looked at three ultimately disproven claims about the ability of various dietary supplements to ward off chronic disease, and in each case they found instances where scientists had consistently referred to the original claim, despite contradictory evidence. In one example - a study hinting at a link between eating carrots and preventing cancer - the researchers found that scientists continued to refer to the original claim as much as a decade after it had been disproved.
The reasons for this are not entirely clear, explains Ioannidis, speculating that so-called ‘wish-bias’ may have something to do with it. ’People have been pursuing a line of research and they just don’t want to believe that they have followed a path that is incorrect’, he said. ‘That’s not a nice feeling. It's like defending your baby’.
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The ghost of research past