The Diet-Heart Hypothesis: Changing Perspectives

The diet-heart hypothesis, i.e. dietary cholesterol and saturated fats raise the serum cholesterol which in turn is a risk factor for coronary artery disease is prevalent since the 1950s. Over the years it had a major influence on the perspectives of nutritionists, medical researchers and the lay public. However, of late, the evidence base supporting the dietheart hypothesis is being increasingly questioned. Besides retrieval and re-analysis of archival data from incomplete studies, study of internal documents of industry reveal that vested interests may have played a role in maintaining the dietheart hypothesis. This brief review gives an overview of the evidence and conflicting views most of which fell by the wayside in the heady days of the diet-heart hypothesis. It puts forth the question whether there is a paradigm shift in the diet-heart hypothesis. Using the key-words "diet-heart hypothesis" an online literature search was made using PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Standard texts on nutritional epidemiology and other writings on the subject were reviewed

Authorship pressures, malpractices and ethical issues

The present academic climate in the country as a consequence of regulations requiring minimum number of publications for tenure and promotion has led to fierce competition which is not always healthy. To complicate matters the sequence of authors can decide the fate of one’s academic career. For instance, the Medical Council of India (MCI) accepts only the first and second authors while granting academic credit.1 One who has toiled the maximum for a paper should consider herself lucky if she retains the first or second slot in the final authorship sequence. One of the delicate issues concerns the final list and sequence of co-authors. Though explicit guidelines on authorship exist,2 implementation poses dilemmas for a researcher low down in the academic hierarch