RETRACTED ARTICLE: The Effects of Probiotic Supplementation on Gene Expression Related to Inflammation, Insulin, and Lipids in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Abstract

ABSTRACT We, the Editor and Publisher of the journal formerly known as the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, have retracted the following article: Omid Reza Tamtaji, Ebrahim Kouchaki, Mahmoud Salami, Esmat Aghadavod, Elmira Akbari, Maryam Tajabadi-Ebrahimi, Zatollah Asemi. The effects of probiotic supplementation on gene expression related to inflammation, insulin, and lipids in patients with multiple sclerosis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of the American Nutrition Association. 2017;36(8):660–665, doi:10.1080/07315724.2017.1347074 Following publication, significant concerns were raised about the integrity of the data and the reported findings in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors and their institution were cooperative in providing some original data and documents. To verify the reported findings, the article and the original data provided by the authors were further evaluated by the journal editorial team and also sent for review by an external statistical reviewer. Neither the journal editorial team nor the external statistical reviewer were able to confirm the integrity of the trial design, and the main outcome of the external review was that the article’s results and conclusions are unreliable. Therefore, as the editorial team no longer has confidence in the reported conclusions, the decision has been made to retract the article. The authors listed in the publication have been informed. The authors do not agree with the retraction. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted.”