Inside STAT: Pulling back the curtain on Coca-Cola's contracts with researchers it funds

A provision in Coca-Cola’s agreements with universities stating that research funds could be revoked at any time potentially kept researchers from straying from the beverage giant’s mission, a new paper suggests. The new report — compiled from 87,000 documents, including research contracts — comes amid increased scrutiny that industry faces for funding scientific research. Although the new study’s authors found no instances of it happening, the findings suggest that such policies could have pressured researchers from freely pursuing research on the harmful effects of sugary beverages. And even though researchers receiving funding from the company had a say in whether the company reviewed findings ahead of publishing, Coca-Cola’s policies are problematic because they undermine efforts toward more transparency and integrity in scientific publishing, the authors say. Read more from STAT's Andrew Joseph.