Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeTalking PointsCalls for ‘sat-fats are good’ paper to be retracted

Calls for ‘sat-fats are good’ paper to be retracted

When a paper published on 17 March questioned whether fats from fish or vegetable oils are healthier than those in meat or butter, it quickly made headlines around the world; after all, the study seemed to debunk a cornerstone of many dietary guidelines, reports [s]Science[/s]. But a new version of the publication had to be posted shortly after it appeared on the website of the [s]Annals of Internal Medicine[/s] to correct several errors. And although the study's first author stands by the conclusions, a number of scientists are criticising the paper and even calling on the authors to retract it.

[i]‘They have done a huge amount of damage,' says [b]Walter Willett[/b][/i], chair of the Nutrition department at the [b]Harvard School of Public Health[/b]. ‘I think a retraction with similar press promotion should be considered.’ Even one of the paper's authors, [b]Dariush Mozaffarian[/b] of the [b]Harvard School of Public Health[/b], admits that he is not happy with the key conclusion that the evidence does not support a benefit from polyunsaturated fats. ‘Personally, I think the results suggest that fish and vegetable oils should be encouraged.’ But the paper was written by a group of authors, he points out. "And science isn't a dictatorship."

[link url=http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2014/03/scientists-fix-errors-controversial-paper-about-saturated-fats] Full Science report[/link]
[link url=http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1846638&atab=7] AIM corrected abstract[/link]

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