This morning's NZ Herald ran an Associated Press story under the headline: Soft drinks clearly associated with diabetes. The article, which linked soft drink consumption and poor nutrition, draws from the soon to be published research of Yale University researchers who analysed 88 previous studies. Equally disturbing is their finding that:…studies funded by the food industry reported significantly smaller effects than non-industry funded studies.A timely warning given that the American Beverage Association funded research published this month which questions the standard explanation for the link between soft drink consumption and obesity. What's more the researchers were found to have serious undisclosed conflicts of interest.
All of which only highlights the importance of information literacy when deciding who to believe. Feel free to contact the Library if you'd like to know more about how our information literacy programmes can help you or your students.
