The nutrition researcher who faked a study — then sued the journalists who exposed him

Ranjit Chandra was a professor of pediatrics at Memorial University of Newfoundland and a self-proclaimed 'father of nutritional immunology.' He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1989 for his research on infant nutrition. His studies, funded by Ross Laboratories, Nestlé, and Mead Johnson, claimed that certain infant formulas could reduce allergies — findings that shaped the global infant formula market.

In 2001, Chandra published a study in the journal Nutrition claiming that his own multivitamin supplement, called 'Junior,' could reverse memory loss in elderly patients. In 2002, he published a confirming study — but under a pseudonym: 'Amrit L. Jain,' based on his sons' names. The fraud was exposed by a 2006 CBC documentary, 'The Secret Life of Dr. Chandra,' which found that the 1989 infant formula study had been fabricated and that the 2001 multivitamin study had never actually been conducted.

Chandra sued CBC for $10 million in damages. In July 2015, after a nine-week libel trial, the jury found that the CBC's allegations were true — Chandra had fabricated the data. He was ordered to pay $1.6 million in CBC's legal fees. The Order of Canada was revoked in December 2015, the first time membership was terminated for research fraud. An arrest warrant was issued in 2016 for defrauding OHIP of over $2 million. His medical license was revoked in 2018.