Resveratrol Scientists React to Fraud Scandal

[Guest guest]

As the controversy over the research fraud allegations against *Dr Dipak Das

* enter its third day, researchers, clinicians, and red-wine enthusiasts

more generally are wondering just what the news means for the field of *

resveratrol* research. At the very least, scientists told *heartwire *,

plans for an international meeting scheduled for later this year have been

turned upside down: Das was one of just eight international experts on the

scientific committee for Resveratrol 2012 <http://resveratrol2012.org/>.

As previously reported by *heartwire *, the University of Connecticut found

evidence that Das had fabricated and falsified data in dozens of published

papers, many asserting that resveratrol, found in red wine, improved

cardiovascular health. The university is in the process of dismissing Das

and has already returned $890 000 of the federal research funding awarded

to Das.

The case is attracting more than the usual flurry of interest for a

research fraud case, in part because red wine has long enjoyed a reputation

as a heart-smart accompaniment to a healthy diet: resveratrol has emerged

as a key candidate in molecular studies looking at just how wine benefits

the cardiovascular system. Interest in the compound culminated in the first

international resveratrol meeting, held in Denmark in 2010, and led to a

position paper published in *PLoS One* on which Das was an author [1].

Resveratrol 2012 is to be held in Lucknow, India, December 10-12, 2012.

Chair of the scientific committee, *Dr Ole Vang*, told *heartwire * by

email that he was too ill to speak by phone Friday. Instead, he referred

calls to *Dr ph Wu *(New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY), who told *

heartwire * he's been invited to the meeting, but " now I don't really know

if it's going to be held or not! I hope so, because I think the field of

resveratrol could benefit from a group of scientists [getting together] who

have a common interest on trying to understand how this molecule works. But

given the current interest and climate surrounding Dr Das, I don't know. "

Another member of the scientific committee, however, *Dr M

Pezzuto*(University of Hawaii, Hilo), told

*heartwire * the meeting " absolutely " will go ahead as planned.

" First of all, if you look at the 4000 [published] papers, resveratrol has

potential in many different therapeutic areas. . . . There's a big laundry

list of therapeutic areas and many workers in addition to Das, in cardiac

work as well. So I don't think [the controversy] is going to affect that

adversely at all--it might actually gain it more attention. "

Pezzuto also confirmed that Vang has written to the other members of the

scientific committee " and said, basically, chill out, " while the

investigation into Das plays out.

The case " looks pretty bleak, " Pezzuto said, " but we don't fully

know. . . . If he is proven guilty I would assume he would resign and if he

doesn't I expect Ole will consult with us and we'll take action. "

*This " Won't Impact Body of Science " *

Another member of the scientific committee, *Dr Nihal Ahmad* (University of

Wisconsin), told *heartwire * that he believed he and other committee

members would be " review[ing] the situation. "

" I am myself following the story very closely, " Ahmad said. " However, I do

not believe that this is going to have much effect on the body of science,

especially because the effect of resveratrol has been verified by a number

of researchers and there is a comprehensive amount of data in a variety of

experimental models suggesting that resveratrol may be useful against

certain diseases. Thus, even if some of Dr Das's work is false and

retracted, it will not likely impact the body of science on this very

promising agent. "

Those views, not surprisingly, were echoed by Pezzuto and Wu, the latter

noting that Das's work was concentrated in a specific ischemia-reperfusion

model, but that he was not the only researcher using this model.

Pezzuto also pointed to the position paper derived from the 2010 meeting on

which he, as well as Das, Vang, Wu, and Ahmad are all coauthors, noting

that it clearly concludes that the existing evidence is not strong enough

to recommend administration of resveratrol to humans. " I can say that

during the course of that meeting there were no signs of any impropriety

from Das or anyone else in terms of lack of integrity or pushing an agenda

or trying to bias the report in any way, " Pezzuto told *heartwire *. " There

is a broad body of scientific investigation that supports certain perceived

benefits for heart health, beyond Dr Das, and ultimately you can see in our

report, and we state it pretty unequivocally, to say that the compound has

clinical activity you need to perform clinical trials. "

He continued: " My personal opinion is, if Dr Das or his people doctored

some Western blots, it's not going to affect the pathway forward [for

resveratrol] because ultimately the same body of evidence exists beyond

what he's published indicating that there's some potential, and ultimately

trials need to be conducted to prove that it's efficacious or not. "

*heartwire * contacted the *American Heart Association* for its views on

the Das debacle. *Dr Gordon Tomaselli* (s Hopkins University,

Baltimore, MD), speaking in generalities rather than commenting on the

specifics of the Das case, made the point that research misconduct happens.

It remains key, he said, that scientific process and clinical

recommendations never rely too heavily on work conducted by a single group

or a single laboratory. Nor, he added, should a single instance of

malfeasance unduly influence an entire field.

" On balance here, the evidence is in favor of improvement in cardiovascular

risk with [moderate red-wine consumption], because of the components that

are part of alcohol and red wine in particular, " Tomaselli told *heartwire *.

" The message here is that a single incident like this doesn't undermine the

overall hypothesis about wine/alcohol and CV risk. "

www.medscape.com

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

The Frugal Dietitian <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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