Richard Fleming Pro-tip for journals and publishers: When you decide to publish a paper about a subject — say, diets — that you know will draw a great deal of scrutiny from vocal proponents of alternatives, make sure it’s as close to airtight as possible.
And in the event that the paper turns out not to be so airtight, write a retraction notice that’s not vague and useless.
Oh, and make sure the lead author of said study isn’t a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud.
If only we were describing a hypothetical.
On September 27 of this year, Richard M. Fleming — that’s “PhD, MD, JD AND NOW Actor-Singer!!!” according to his Twitter profile— and colleagues published a paper in Clinical Cardiology. The paper, a comparison of “the three major diets,” concluded:
One-year lowered-carbohydrate diet significantly increases cardiovascular risks, while a low-to-moderate-fat diet significantly reduces cardiovascular risk factors. Vegan diets were intermediate. Lowered-carbohydrate dieters were least inclined to continue dieting after conclusion of the study. Reductions in coronary blood flow reversed with appropriate dietary intervention. The major dietary effect on atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is inflammation and not weight loss.
The next day, the very same Richard M. Fleming was debarred by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
for 10 years from providing services in any capacity to a person that has an approved or pending drug product application. FDA bases this order on a finding that Fleming was convicted of two felonies under Federal law that involved fraud. Additionally, Fleming has demonstrated a pattern of conduct sufficient to find that there is reason to believe that he may violate requirements under the FD&C Act relating to drug products.