Dipak Das of the University of Connecticut has been found by a special review board to have committed 145 separate counts of data falsification and fabrication in his studies of the effects on the heart of red-wine consumption (and specifically of the compound resveratrol, found in red wine). A summary the board's findings is here. The research misconduct is said to affect 26 articles in as many as 11 journals. Retraction Watch is following the case, and has printed some responses from Das, who is alleging ethnic bias, conspiracy and mistreatment by UConn.
Harvard's David Sinclair (a booster of resveratrol) was quoted in the New York Times as saying that there will be little fallout for the general field of resveratrol study around the world. "Today I had to look up who he is. His papers are mostly in specialty journals,” he said. Ouch! But Science 2.0 (which is skeptical about resveratrol) notes an earlier connection between Sinclair and Das, and a sort-of retraction by Sinclair of his NYT comment. Curioser and curioser!
Nice!! My mom needs to read this post, she is completely convinced that red-wine is the best medicine ever invented.
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