ArticlePublic health nutrition2018
Coca-Cola - a model of transparency in research partnerships? A network analysis of Coca-Cola's research funding (2008-2016).
Article in Public health nutrition, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reporting bias in the literature on the associations of health-related behaviors and statins with cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.PLoS biology · 2018Pooled it
- 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
- Using a systems thinking approach to map the global rise of ultra-processed foods in population diets.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Review
- Diet Coke's chronic daily intake in female albino rats: Biochemical and histopathological effects on certain hematological and reproductive parameters.Open veterinary journal · 2025Article
- Addressing the commercial determinants of mental health: an umbrella review of population-level interventions.Health promotion international · 2024Review
- Human milk products in the National Health Service: a cross-sectional survey of use and industry contact across England's trusts.JRSM open · 2024Article
- Article
- National Public Health Surveillance of Corporations in Key Unhealthy Commodity Industries - A Scoping Review and Framework Synthesis.International journal of health policy and management · 2023Article
- Electoral campaign contributions: an obstacle to sugary drink industry regulation in Brazil?Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Pouring rights contracts between universities and beverage companies: Provisions related to scientific research.Preventive medicine reports · 2022Article
- Confronting potential food industry 'front groups': case study of the international food information Council's nutrition communications using the UCSF food industry documents archive.Globalization and health · 2022Article
- Mediterranean Diet Social Network Impact along 11 Years in the Major US Media Outlets: Thematic and Quantitative Analysis Using Twitter.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Sugary drinks taxation: industry's lobbying strategies, practices and arguments in the Brazilian Legislature.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Maximising the wealth of few at the expense of the health of many: a public health analysis of market power and corporate wealth and income distribution in the global soft drink market.Globalization and health · 2021Article
- "Part of the Solution": Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy.International journal of health policy and management · 2021Review
- Power and the commercial determinants of health: ideas for a research agenda.BMJ global health · 2021Article
- Facilitators of and barriers to collaboration between universities and the food industry in nutrition research: a qualitative study.Food & nutrition research · 2021Article
- Assessment of Antipsychotic Medications on Social Media: Machine Learning Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Declared funding and authorship by alcohol industry actors in the scientific literature: a bibliometric study.European journal of public health · 2020Article
- How Coca-Cola Shaped the International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health: An Analysis of Email Exchanges between 2012 and 2014.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo (i) evaluate the extent to which Coca-Cola's 'Transparency Lists' of 218 researchers that it funds are comprehensive; (ii) map all scientific research acknowledging funding from Coca-Cola; (iii) identify those institutions, authors and research topics funded by Coca-Cola; and (iv) use Coca-Cola's disclosure to gauge whether its funded researchers acknowledge the source of funding.
designUsing Web of Science Core Collection database, we retrieved all studies declaring receipt of direct funding from the Coca-Cola brand, published between 2008 and 2016. Using conservative eligibility criteria, we iteratively removed studies and recreated Coca-Cola's transparency lists using our data. We used network analysis and structural topic modelling to assess the structure, organization and thematic focus of Coca-Cola's research enterprise, and string matching to evaluate the completeness of Coca-Cola's transparency lists.
resultsThree hundred and eighty-nine articles, published in 169 different journals, and authored by 907 researchers, cite funding from The Coca-Cola Company. Of these, Coca-Cola acknowledges funding forty-two authors (<5 %). We observed that the funded research focuses mostly on nutrition and emphasizes the importance of physical activity and the concept of 'energy balance'.
conclusionsThe Coca-Cola Company appears to have failed to declare a comprehensive list of its research activities. Further, several funded authors appear to have failed to declare receipt of funding. Most of Coca-Cola's research support is directed towards physical activity and disregards the role of diet in obesity. Despite initiatives for greater transparency of research funding, the full scale of Coca-Cola's involvement is still not known.
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.