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2026 · Article · Critical reviews in food science and nutrition

"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; David B Allison; Andrew W Brown

Explores roughly one million model specifications to show how analytical choices change estimated associations between beef intake and coronary heart disease.

Open-science resources

Resource verification & source notes
  • Free full text (PMC): The complete article body was retrieved from the public NCBI PMC JATS endpoint. This confirms free access; reuse permissions depend on the individual article license.
  • Analysis data: The article links this project for its model specification and reproducible analysis code; public files also include derived model-space and result tables. These are not the controlled REGARDS participant-level records.
  • Analysis code: The article links this project for its model specification and reproducible analysis code; public files also include derived model-space and result tables. These are not the controlled REGARDS participant-level records.
  • Registration: The article identifies this OSF registration and describes changes made after registration.
  • Earlier preprint: Matched title / source version grouping.
  • Supplementary materials: Live Figshare inventory contains bfsn_a_2525459_sm3540.docx, bfsn_a_2525459_sm3538.docx. These documents alone do not establish shared raw data or executable code.
  • Free abstract: OpenAlex marks this location open access (gold); availability is metadata-reported, not an independently tested reusable license.

Publication details

Research themes

Reproducibility & robustnessStatistical rigorNutrition & aging

nutrition · cardiovascular-health

Author affiliations & identifiers
  • Colby J Vorland: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Lauren E O'Connor: Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center.
  • Beate Henschel: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Cuiqiong Huo: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • James M Shikany: Division of Preventive Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
  • Carlos A Serrano: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Robert Henschel: UITS Research Technologies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Stephanie L Dickinson: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Keisuke Ejima: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
  • Aurelian Bidulescu: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • David B Allison: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
  • Andrew W Brown: Arkansas Children's Research Institute, Little Rock, AR, USA.; Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.

Versions & associated materials

These items belong to this research work. Their individual titles, author lists, and source identifiers are preserved below.

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

Data · 2025 · Figshare

Vorland, Colby J.; O’Connor, Lauren E.; Henschel, Beate; Huo, Cuiqiong; Shikany, James M.; Serrano, Carlos A.; Henschel, Robert; Dickinson, Stephanie L.; Ejima, Keisuke; Bidulescu, Aurelian; Allison, David B.; Brown, Andrew W.

DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29541007.v1

Exploring how analytic choices influence the association between self-reported diet and chronic disease outcomes: beef intake and coronary heart disease as a case study

Registration · 2022 · Open Science Framework

Colby J. Vorland; Beate Henschel; Lauren O'Connor; James Shikany; Cuiqiong Huo; Keisuke Ejima; Aurelian Bidulescu; David Allison; Andrew W. Brown

DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/ue457

How analytic choices influence diet and chronic disease outcome associations

Project · 2022 · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)

Vorland, Colby J.; Henschel, Beate; Brown, Andrew W.

DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/sy96k

Methodological Considerations in the Application of Multiverse Analyses for More Rigorous Inferences About Nutrition and Health

Conference Abstract · 2022 · Current Developments in Nutrition

Colby Vorland; Lauren O’Connor; Beate Henschel; Cuiqiong Huo; James Shikany; Keisuke Ejima; Aurelian Bidulescu; Andrew Brown

DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzac063.023

Methodological Considerations in the Application of Multiverse Analyses for More Rigorous Inferences About Nutrition and Health

Poster · 2022 · Nutrition 2022 Live Online

Vorland CJ; O’Connor LE; Henschel B; Cuo H; Shikany JM; Ejima K; Bidulescu A; Brown AW

Preprint & version links

Related materials

Source notes
  • CV abbreviates the ordered author list with ellipses; replace with complete authoritative list before displaying full authors.

Metadata sources: PubMed, OpenAlex, CV, Google Scholar. Classification is an editorial interpretation of the title, abstract, and supplied CV.