I have been a red wine lover since … well, forever it seems. I have always known that moderation in all things is key, that too much of a good thing is never a good thing. I never assumed that any amount of alcohol was beneficial, so when the study came out a while ago about the possible benefits of moderate red wine consumption … well I was thrilled.
Turns out the victory dances were premature, as the researcher behind the study has just been found guilty of “145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data”.
The depressing quote from Medical News Today:
An extensive misconduct investigation that took three years to complete and produced a 60,000-page report, concludes that a researcher who has come to prominence in recent years for his investigations into the beneficial properties of resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, “is guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data”.
In a statement published on the university’s news website on Wednesday, the University of Connecticut (UConn) Health Center said the investigation has led them to inform 11 scientific journals that had published studies conducted by Dr Dipak K. Das, a professor in the university’s Department of Surgery and director of its Cardiovascular Research Center.
The internal investigation, which covered seven years of work in Das’s lab, was triggered by an anonymous allegation of “research irregularities” in 2008.
So now we have to return to the real world in which red wine is an indulgence to be enjoyed sparingly and occasionally like so many other extravagances.
As someone who does research and experimentation every day, I am professionally offended whenever someone puts the desired outcome of an experiment before what the data is actually saying. As a wine lover, I just think it sucks.
Oh well … better luck next time.
Source: Medical News Today: via Buzzfeed