Conflicts of interest among scientific foundations and societies in the field of childhood nutrition

ObjectiveTo describe food-industry sponsorships of associations active in the field of childhood nutrition and obesity prevention in Spain in 2017-2018.MethodThe associations were located at https://www.google.es/ using the words “society”, “foundation” or “federation” in combination with the terms “nutrition”, “obesity”, “childhood”, “paediatrics” and “diabetes”. Sponsorship was defined as the declaration of funding received or the appearance of a food company logo on an association's website or in the programmes of its congresses or courses. The percentage of sponsored societies and its association with the existence of ethical codes was calculated using MS Excel.Results64% of the associations displayed some type of sponsorship, with this being most frequent among paediatric and nutrition societies, 83% and 80% respectively, and non-existent among public health societies. No association was found between the existence of an ethical code and sponsorship (odds ratio: 0.75; 95% confidence interval: 0.14-3.94). The leading corporate sponsors were Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Danone. Whereas the initiatives of sponsored societies were targeted at changing eating individual behaviours, those of unsponsored societies sought to promote changes in the food system and eating environments.ConclusionsFood industry sponsorship of foundations and scientific societies is very widespread in Spain, except among public health associations. Unlike sponsored associations, those unsponsored propose policies opposed by the food industry, which are aimed at improving the system and food and eating environments.     

Human myeloma light chains with increased molecular weight: high frequency among lambda chains

The discovery of a human myeloma protein comprising a kappa L-chain with an increased mol. wt of 30,000) (Bouvet et. al., 1980) prompted investigations on the incidence of such heavier L-chains among other human myeloma proteins. In 105 samples examined, 34 were found to have L-chains heavier than normal (23,000-24,000), ranging from 25,000 up to 31,000, and five of lighter mol. wt (21,000-22,000). These mol. wt abnormalities were detected by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate 10% polyacrylamide gels (SDS-PAGE) after reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. The mol. wt of three of the heavier kappa or lambda chains was also estimated by filtration through a Sephadex G100 column and by sedimentation equilibrium. All three methods indicated a mol. wt increase of about 15-25% as compared with the usual mol. wt. The distribution of the high mol. wt chains among all L-chains examined was found to be 11 out of 62 kappa chains (17.7%) and 23 out of 43 lambda chains (53%) (P less than 0.001). A preferential association of such L-chains with H-chains producing multiple bands in SDS-PAGE (P less than 0.01) and an association between multiple L-chain and multiple H-chain band (P less than 0.05) were also observed. In contrast, no abnormal L-chain was found in immunoglobulins from normal subjects. Spontaneous degradation of the normal H-chains sometimes yielded fragments of 30,000 mol. wt. These fragments were easily distinguishable from abnormal L-chains. The nature of extra mol. wt in heavy L-chains was investigated for the presence of carbohydrate moiety. Four large and three normal size L-chains were examined for amino-sugar and sialic acid content. A small amount (one residue per molecule) of amino-sugar was detected only in two normal and two heavy L-chains, whereas sialic acid was only found in the heaviest (27,000-30,000) L-chains (Lh) and in small percentage (one or two residues per molecule). Total sugar estimation in one Lh chain indicated a proportion not exceeding three or four residues per L-chain (mol. wt 1,000) and this is insufficient to explain the 15-25% (3,600-6,000) mol. wt increase. It is therefore possible that, at least in some heavy myeloma L-chains, an additional peptide is expressed. Whatever the nature of the increase it would be of interest to elucidate whether this is a marker of malignant process or of an intermediate step of normal Ig synthesis.