SynthesisPloS one2016
Relationship between Research Outcomes and Risk of Bias, Study Sponsorship, and Author Financial Conflicts of Interest in Reviews of the Effects of Artificially Sweetened Beverages on Weight Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Reviews.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 72 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Artificially sweetened beverages do not influence metabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Nonnutritive Sweeteners on the BMI of Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Prospective Cohort Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Pooled it
- Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2023Pooled it
- The Impact of Non-caloric Sweeteners on Male Fertility: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis in Rodent Models.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- Should clinical automated perimetry be considered for routine functional assessment of early/intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD)? A systematic review of current literature.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2022Pooled it
- Is the Psychopathic Brain an Artifact of Coding Bias? A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Exploring the Influence of Alcohol Industry Funding in Observational Studies on Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Health.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Reporting of conflicts of interest by authors of primary studies on health policy and systems research: a cross-sectional survey.BMJ open · 2020Pooled it
- Financial Conflicts of Interest and Stance on Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Systematic Review.American journal of public health · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Systematic Review: A Method at Risk for Being Corrupted.American journal of public health · 2017Pooled it
- Adherence to dietary guidelines for the Spanish population and risk of overweight/obesity in the SUN cohort.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Is Meat Industry Affiliation Associated With Study Conclusion in Nutrition Research? A Meta-Research Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Review
- Subconscious value influences on science.Studies in history and philosophy of science · 2025Article
- A large language model-based tool for identifying relationships to industry in research on the carcinogenicity of benzene, cobalt, and aspartame.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Article
- Spin in the Titles and Abstracts of Allergy and Immunology Randomized Controlled Trials With Nonsignificant Outcomes.Cureus · 2025Review
- Complete financial disclosure for improved transparency in nutrition communication.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Unpacking food environment policy landscapes for healthier diets in "emerging" countries: the case of Viet Nam.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Randomised study of the effects of sense of entitlement and conflict of interest contrarianism on researcher decision-making to work with the alcohol industry.BMC public health · 2024Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundArtificially sweetened beverage consumption has steadily increased in the last 40 years. Several reviews examining the effects of artificially sweetened beverages on weight outcomes have discrepancies in their results and conclusions.
objectivesTo determine whether risk of bias, results, and conclusions of reviews of effects of artificially sweetened beverage consumption on weight outcomes differ depending on review sponsorship and authors' financial conflicts of interest.
methodsWe performed a systematic review of reviews of the effects of artificially sweetened beverages on weight. Two assessors independently screened articles for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed risks of bias. We compared risk of bias, results and conclusions of reviews by different industry sponsors, authors' financial conflict of interest and journal sponsor. We also report the concordance between review results and conclusions.
resultsArtificial sweetener industry sponsored reviews were more likely to have favorable results (3/4) than non-industry sponsored reviews (1/23), RR: 17.25 (95% CI: 2.34 to 127.29), as well as favorable conclusions (4/4 vs. 15/23), RR: 1.52 (95% CI: 1.14 to 2.06). All reviews funded by competitor industries reported unfavorable conclusions (4/4). In 42% of the reviews (13/31), authors' financial conflicts of interest were not disclosed. Reviews performed by authors that had a financial conflict of interest with the food industry (disclosed in the article or not) were more likely to have favorable conclusions (18/22) than reviews performed by authors without conflicts of interest (4/9), RR: 7.36 (95% CI: 1.15 to 47.22). Risk of bias was similar and high in most of the reviews.
conclusionsReview sponsorship and authors' financial conflicts of interest introduced bias affecting the outcomes of reviews of artificially sweetened beverage effects on weight that could not be explained by other sources of bias.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.