Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40641286›Full record

ReviewCritical reviews in food science and nutrition2026

"Shaking the ladder" reveals how analytic choices can influence associations in nutrition epidemiology: beef intake and coronary heart disease as a case study.

Colby J Vorland, Lauren E O'Connor, Beate Henschel, Cuiqiong Huo, James M Shikany, Carlos A Serrano, Robert Henschel, Stephanie L Dickinson, Keisuke Ejima, Aurelian Bidulescu and 2 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Colby J VorlandDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Lauren E O'ConnorAgricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center.
Beate HenschelDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Cuiqiong HuoDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
James M ShikanyDivision of Preventive Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Carlos A SerranoDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Robert HenschelUITS Research Technologies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Stephanie L DickinsonDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Keisuke EjimaLee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Aurelian BidulescuDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
David B AllisonDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Andrew W BrownArkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, AR, USA.

Funding

VCID and Stroke in a Bi-racial National CohortU01NS041588 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI CUSHMAN, MARY, HOWARD, GEORGE · 2002 to 2022
$96.0M
Understanding Cohort Effects on Stroke, VCID, and Cognition After Major Epidemiologic TransitionsRF1NS041588 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI CUSHMAN, MARY, HOWARD, GEORGE · 2024 to 2024
$16.2M
REGARDS - MI StudyR01HL080477 · NHLBI · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · PI LEVITAN, EMILY B, SAFFORD, MONIKA M · 2006 to 2020
$11.6M
Understanding Cohort Effects on Stroke, VCID, and Cognition After Major Epidemiologic TransitionsR01NS041588 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI MARY CUSHMAN, VIRGINIA J. HOWARD · 2001 to 2026
$8.8M
Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity ResearchR25HL124208 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI ALLISON, DAVID B, BROWN, ANDREW W · 2014 to 2023
$1.8M
The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity ResearchR25DK099080 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · PI DAVID B ALLISON, Andrew W Brown · 2013 to 2026
$1.2M
Removing Barriers to Better Data Practices through Capacity, Opportunity, and MotivationR25GM141507 · NIGMS · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI BROWN, ANDREW W · 2021 to 2023
$270k
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL080477NHLBI NIH HHS R25 HL124208NIDDK NIH HHS R25 DK099080NIGMS NIH HHS R25 GM141507NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS041588NINDS NIH HHS RF1 NS041588NINDS NIH HHS U01 NS041588
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Nutrition epidemiological models involve many analytic decisions, such as defining exposures, selecting which covariates to include, or configuring variables in different ways. We explored the impact of analytical decisions on conclusions in nutrition epidemiology using self-reported beef intake and incident coronary heart disease as a case study. We used REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) data, and selected covariates and their configurations from published literature to recapitulate common models used to assess associations between meat intake and health outcomes. Three model sets were designed: sets one and two used continuous and quintile-defined beef intakes, respectively, each with ∼500,000 randomly sampled specifications. Set three models directly emulated published covariate combinations. Few models (<1%) were statistically significant at

Indexed as

Coronary DiseaseDietRed MeatAgedAged, 80 and overAnimalsCattleFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProportional Hazards ModelsAnalytic flexibilitybeefcoronary heart diseaseepidemiologymultiverse

Identifiers

PMID40641286
PMCPMC12313195

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.