The Ties that Bind

[Guest guest]

http://www.theomnivore.com/Lift_the_veil.html

 

The Ties that Bind

 

The financial influences behind the diet and health advice issued by

'impartial' health authorities.

 

Anthony Colpo,

August 2, 2004.

 

A major driving theme here at TheOmnivore.com is that much of the

health and nutrition information that fills the popular media today is

erroneous hogwash. One of the primary reasons for this is that such

'objective' information actually comes from sources that are about as

impartial as a British soccer hooligan rooting for his favorite team.

 

The sad reality is that both private and governmental health

organizations have major financial ties with companies from the food

and drug industries; these authorities then dispense what is supposed

to be unbiased and truthful information about the products emanating

from these very same manufacturers.

 

Their ability to remain impartial whilst being lavished with industry

money is extremely suspect, especially when one considers some of the

highly questionable advice these authorities spew forth.

Are health authorities prostituting themselves for corporate

money? You be the judge...

 

 

Industry lobbying versus public health

 

Surprisingly few people are aware that the main function of the United

States Department of Agriculture is not to boost the health of

Americans, but to further the commercial interests of US agriculture.

This might help explain the Department's abominable food pyramid,

which places cereal grain products ahead of all other food groups,

including far more nutrient-dense staples like meats, fruits, nuts,

and vegetables.

 

Late last year, it was reported that hundreds of employees from the

National Institutes of Health, the government's leading medical

research bureau, were (and still are, according to more recent

reports) receiving 'consultation fees' from companies whose products

were being researched by the Institute!

 

It's not just governmental agencies that prefer 'Crony Capitalism' to

the laissez-faire brand that the Founding Fathers had in mind; private

health agencies also appear to be quite fond of dipping into the very

deep pockets of vested financial interests.

 

A recent report entitled Lift the Veil (1) reveals that:

 

-The American Dietetic Association, which has never met a low-fat

processed food it didn't like, is the official association for

America's dietitians. It has received financial contributions from,

among others, the National Soft Drink Association, ConAgra, Grocery

Manufacturers of America, Monsanto, Proctor and Gamble, Potato Board,

National Pasta Association, American Soy Products, National Dairy

Council, and the National Cattleman's Beef Association.

 

The ADA issues 'fact sheets' that provide information on various

nutrition and health topics. Most of these are underwritten by

companies whose products are discussed in the fact sheets.

Manufacturers that have given at least $100,000 towards the production

of these sheets include Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, Weight

Watchers International, Campbell Soup, National Dairy Council, Nestle

USA, General Mills, Monsanto, Nabisco, Procter and Gamble, Ross

Products, Wyeth-Ayerst Labs, and Uncle Ben's.

 

-The American Heart Association operates a food endorsement program in

which the Association's 'heart check' label is awarded to foods low in

saturated fat and cholesterol. In order to receive the AHA's

heart-check, manufacturers must pay the AHA $7,500 per product for 1-9

products, $6,750 for 10-24 products, and $5,940 for 25-99 products in

the initial year. The cost for subsequent years is $4,500, $4,050, and

$3,570, respectively. With over 630 products certified, it is

estimated that the AHA earned over $2 million from its certification

program in 2002.

 

Among the 'wholesome' foods that the AHA has deemed worthy of its

heart-check are(2):

 

· General Mills Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Corn Chex, and

Count Chocula;

 

· Healthy Choice Low Fat Ice Creams,

 

· Chocolate Moose Milk Chocolate Drinks;

 

· Malt-O-Meal Frosted Mini Spooners, Honey Graham Squares, and

Honey

Nut Toasty O's;

 

· Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats Big Bite;

 

· Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars;

 

· Pop-Secret 94% Fat Free Butter Microwave Premium Popcorn.

 

Pharmaceutical giant Merck, which manufactures the

cholesterol-lowering drugs Mevacor and Zocor, is spending $400,000 to

finance an AHA program inculcating 40,000 doctors with treatment

cholesterol guidelines (these guidelines, by the way, are written by

researchers with financial ties to cholesterol-lowering drug

manufacturers like Merck(3)). Other lipid-lowering drug manufacturers

that contribute to the AHA include Pfizer, Astra-Zeneca, and

Bristol-Myers-Squibb.

 

- The American Diabetes Association is America's premiere diabetic

organization which, for some bizarre reason, insists that the

country's carbohydrate-intolerant diabetics should eat more

carbohydrates. Drug companies and manufacturers of fat-free

carbohydrate-rich foods are among the companies that stand to benefit

from the ADA's regrettable advice and, lo and behold, can also be

found on its sponsor sheet.

 

Among the companies that donated between $100,000-750,000 to the ADA

in 2002 are (partial list):

 

($750,000)

Abbott Laboratories

Aventis Pharmaceuticals

BD Consumer Healthcare

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Eli Lilly and Company

GlaxoSmithKline

Merck & Co., Inc.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer Inc

Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.

 

($500,000+)

Bayer Corporation

Kraft Foods

Roche Diagnostics Corporation

 

(250,000+)

Abbott Laboratories, Ross Product Division (Glucerna)

AstraZeneca

Merisant U.S., Inc. (Equal Sweetener)

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

 

($100,000+)

Archway Cookies, LLC

Coolbrands International, Inc. (Eskimo Pie)

CVS/pharmacy

General Mills, Inc. (Fiber One)

Good Neighbor Pharmacy

KOS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Murray Sugar Free Cookies

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc.

Rite Aid Pharmacy

Roche Pharmaceuticals

Schering Plough Healthcare Products, Inc.

Specialty Brands of America (Cary's Sugar Free Cookies)

The Procter & Gamble Company

Voortman Cookies Limited

 

-The list of financial contributors to the American Psychiatric

Association includes AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and

Company, Pfizer, Inc., Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceutica,

Abbott Laboratories, Forest Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Alza

Pharmaceuticals, and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories.

 

-The Washington DC-based Society for Nutrition Education says it is

" dedicated to promoting healthy, sustainable food choices and has a

vision of healthy people in healthy communities. " Its sponsors include

the National Soft Drink Association, National Food Processors

Association, Monsanto, Proctor and Gamble, Nestle, California Dairy

Council, and Dairy Council of Wisconsin.

 

-Among the Canadian Food Information Council's members are Coca-Cola

Ltd., General Mills Canada, Inc., H. J. Heinz Company of Canada Ltd.,

Kellogg Canada Inc., Kraft Canada Inc., Monsanto Canada, Nestlé

Canada

Inc., Parmalat Canada Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Syngenta Seeds

Canada, Inc., Quaker Tropicana Gatorade - Canada, and Unilever Canada

Limited.

 

CFIC patrons are Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Canadian

Federation of Independent Grocers, Refreshments Canada, and CropLife

Canada.

 

-The International Life Sciences Institute was founded in 1978 " to

work toward a safer, healthier world. ILSI is a worldwide foundation

that is making a difference in public health by advancing the

understanding of scientific issues related to nutrition, food safety,

toxicology, and the environment. "

 

ILSI has received funding from the alcoholic beverage industry, and

it's 1996 N.Y. Academy of Science conference on fat substitutes was

funded in part by Olestra manufacturer Procter & Gamble.

 

ILSI's 1998 Board of Trustees included representatives from Kraft

Foods, Inc., Kellogg Company, Nestle Ltd., Switzerland, Monsanto

Company, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo, Inc.

 

Members of ILSI North America include:

 

Archer Daniels Midland Company

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Burger King

Campbell Soup Company

Cargill,

Coca-Cola

Corn Products International, Inc.

General Mills, Inc.

H.J. Heinz

Hershey Foods Corporation

Kellogg Company

Kraft Foods, Inc.

Mead Johnson Nutritionals

Monsanto

National Starch and Chemical Company,

Nestlé USA,

The NutraSweet Company,

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.,

The Pepsi-Cola Company,

Pfizer, Proctor & Gamble,

Red Bull, Ross Products,

Taco Bell,

Unilever,

Wyeth Nutritionals,

 

-In March of 2003, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry

received a $1 million grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation.

 

The Lift the Veil report was put together by the Center for Science in

the Public Interest (CSPI). While it has certainly done an admirable

job of compiling the financial connections of many of our most

prestigious and supposedly unbiased health organizations, the CSPI

itself is not exactly guilt-free when it comes to handing out shonky

nutrition advice.

 

In the late eighties, the CSPI joined the soybean industry and

billionaire Phil Sokoloff in launching all-out war on tropical oils.

These oils have never been linked to any health problem in humans--in

fact, research tentatively suggests that the medium-chain fatty acids

contained in these oils may help protect against pathogenic microbes,

heart disease, and, when consumed as part of a ketogenic diet, cancer.

Researchers have documented the outstanding health of tropical

populations consuming high amounts of fat-rich coconut products.(4,5)

 

More recently, the CSPI has been protesting the inclusion of high-fat

milk products on school menus, claiming that their saturated fat

content " clogs kids' arteries. "

 

Milk fat has never been shown to clog kids'--nor adults'--arteries. To

the contrary, a recent review of prospective epidemiological studies

examining milk consumption suggests that high-fat milk may offer

modest protection against heart disease and stroke.(6)

 

Individuals with a preponderence of small, dense LDL partcles are

known to be at higher risk of heart disease than those with large LDL

particles. A Swedish study appearing in the latest Journal of

Nutrition reports that, in men aged 62-64, milk-derived fatty acids

were associated with a blood lipid profile characterized by

significantly less small, dense LDL.(7)

 

CSPI co-founder and current executive director Michael Jacobson, is a

vegetarian who reportedly sits on the advisory board of the " Great

American Meatout, " an annual event operated by the vegan and animal

rights group Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM).(8)

 

The CSPI did not include itself in the Lift the Veil report.

 

References

 

1) http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/lift_the_veil_guts_fnl.pdf

 

2) http://216.185.112.90/productlist.aspx

 

3) http://www.citizens.org/docUploads....

 

4) Lindeberg S, Lundh B. Apparent absence of stroke and ischaemic

heart disease in a traditional Melanesian island: a clinical study in

Kitava. Journal of Internal Medicine, 1993 Mar; 233 (3): 269-275.

 

5) Prior IA, et al. Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet on Polynesian

atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau island studies.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981 Aug; 34 (8): 1552-1561.

 

6) Elwood PC, et al. Milk drinking, ischaemic heart disease and

ischaemic stroke II. Evidence from cohort studies. European Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, May, 2004; 58 (5): 718-724.

 

7) Sjogren P, et al. Milk-Derived Fatty Acids Are Associated with a

More Favorable LDL Particle Size Distribution in Healthy Men. Journal

of Nutrition, Jul 2004, 134: 1729-1735.

 

8) http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/13

 

Anthony Colpo is an independent researcher and certified fitness

consultant with 20 years' experience in the physical conditioning

arena. To contact: contact

 

Current financial conflicts of interest: Anthony wants to buy a new

car, but his wife wants to renovate their kitchen...