Coca-Cola funding study to shift blame for obesity from bad diet?
Anahad O'Connor
NYT NEWS SERVICE
Coca-Cola, the world's largest producer of sugary beverages, is backing a new “sciencebased“ solution to the obesity crisis: To maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories.
The beverage giant has teamed up with scientists who are advancing this message in medical journals, at conferences and through social media. To help the scientists get the word out, Coke has provided financial and logistical support to a new nonprofit organization called the Global Energy Balance Network, which promotes the argument that weight-conscious Americans are overly fixated on how much they eat and drink while not paying enough attention to exercise.
“Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, `Oh they're eating too much, eating too much, eating too much' -blaming fast food, blaming sugary drinks and so on,“ the group's vice president, Steven N Blair, an exercise scientist, says in a recent video announcing the new organization. “ And there's really virtually no compelling evidence that is the cause.“
Health experts say this message is misleading and part of an effort by Coke to deflect criticism about the role sugary drinks have played in the spread of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. They contend that the company is using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume.
This clash over the science of obesity comes in a period of rising efforts to tax sugary drinks, remove them from schools and stop companies from marketing them to children. In the last two decades, consumption of full-calorie sodas by the average American has dropped by 25%.
Coke has made a substantial investment in the new nonprofit. In response to requests based on state open-records laws, two universities that employ leaders of the Global Energy Balance Network disclosed that Coke had donated $1.5 million last year to start the organization.
Coca-Cola's public relations department repeatedly declined requests for an interview with its chief scientific officer, Rhona Applebaum, who has called attention to the new group on Twitter. In a statement, the company said it had a long history of supporting scientific research related to its beverages and topics such as energy balance. “We partner with some of the foremost experts in the fields of nutrition and physical activity ,“ the statement said, “It's important to us that the researchers we work with share their own views and scientific findings, regardless of the outcome, and are transparent and open about our funding.“ Dr Blair and other scientists affiliated with the group said that Coke had no control over its work or message and that they saw no problem with the company's support because they had been transparent about it.
Coke's involvement in the new organization is not the only example of corporate-funded research and advocacy to come under fire lately .The American Society for Nutrition and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics have been criticized by public health advocates for forming partnerships with companies such as Kraft Foods, McDonald's, PepsiCo and Hershey's.
