Nutrition Retracts 2001 Vitamin Study Article

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland--Controversial vitamin research by Ranjit Chandra, M.D., former Newfoundland Memorial Hospital immunologist, published in a 2001 issue of Nutrition (17:709-12) was retracted in the journals February 2005 issue. Journal editor Michael Meguid reported an analysis of Chandras study revealed substantial problems concerning the studys claims.

A group of scientists and investigators found some of the claims made [were] implausible, not reproducible, that the basis on which the data was analyzed was not appropriate and could not yield the results claimed, Meguid confirmed.

The research involved elderly test subjects given a vitamin and mineral supplement formulated by Chandra, a prominent researcher who received the Order of Canada and was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1992. In the published article, Chandra claimed the supplementation produced dramatic improvement to subjects brain functions, including memory. He wrote the nutritional approach may delay the onset of Alzheimers disease.

Before its 2001 publication, the article was reviewed by three scientific peers, but concerns were subsequently raised by other scientists, including editors from The Lancet and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which had turned down the article when submitted by Chandra. In fact, BMJ editor Richard Smith, in mid-2004, called for all of Chandras work to be investigated on the basis that Chandras study showed signs of being entirely fabricated.

At that time, Meguid called on Memorial, from which Chandra retired after 27 years, to investigate Chandras body of work. Memorial said it was not its duty to do so. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research reportedly opened its own investigation into Chandras research, but Chandra has so far refused to make his data available, according to hospital officials and journal editors.

Jack Strawbridge, spokesperson for Memorial, told the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) Chandra had avoided all attempts to turn over data that would allow other scientists to validate the studys results by duplicating the research. He said Chandra claimed he was always traveling, too busy or misplaced the data.

Chandra currently resides in India and Switzerland. He is the president of Javaan Corp., which sells his patented vitamin formula via mail order in the United States. He was director of the first World Health Organization (WHO) Center for Nutritional Immunology and the first Carnegie Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University. He defended his research, claiming confidence in the study design, analysis and reporting, and referenced two unnamed studies in support of his research findings.