The USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee has been made of up individuals funded by McDonald’s, Coca Cola, the Sugar Association, the American Meat Institute, candy bar companies, and the egg and dairy boards.
Dietary Guidelines: Advisory Committee Conflicts of Interest
5/5 - (73 votes)
The reason our federal dietary guidelines “may be more interested in protecting industry interests than adhering to the science” is not only because of conflicts of interest at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but also conflicts of interest on the official Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee itself.
On the 1995 panel, there was a guy funded by Mars, the candy bar company. He also served on McDonald’s Corporation’s Global Advisory Council on Healthy Lifestyles.
Dr. Garza was a visiting professor with the National Dairy Council—I didn’t even know they had professors.
He was also VP and on the board of Dannon Institute. Irwin served on Coca Cola’s Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. I wonder what his thoughts are on sugar-sweetened beverages. And Dr. Schneeman has received money from the National Dairy Board, and the National Dairy Promotion Board. And was President of the Dannon Institute.
In 2000, our visiting professor was back, and we got someone else funded by the National Dairy Promotion Board, as well as the National Live Stock and Meat Board.
Joanna Dwyer, whom I know all too well having attended Tufts Med, served the American Meat Institute, the National Dairy Promotion Board, and “worked for Procter & Gamble as the company’s Duncan Hines ‘brand girl’ and then as its Crisco brand girl.” You know you’re in trouble when U.S. nutrition policy is being decided by a former brand girl of cake and Crisco.
Scrambling science for the American Egg Board; milking the National Dairy Council; milk; dairy; dairy; dairy; milk; dairy; and none other than the “the star of a new Anheuser move to publicize the health benefits of beer consumption.” That’s who was forming official nutrition policy in the United States.
In 2005, the Egg Board was back; the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the M&M Mars Scientific Advisory Board; Sugar Association; Coca-Cola; Hershey’s; McDonald’s; Sara Lee; and the Snack Food Association. Give me a break.
Lots of drug companies; Campbell’s soup—wonder what his take is on sodium intake? A single can can exceed our entire daily upper limit. And dairy; dairy; dairy, milk, Kraft, dairy; dairy.
And finally, our 2010 committee: General Mills, Dannon, Kraft, Campbell’s, and another McDonald’s Global Advisor on Healthy Lifestyles.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Peter Mellor.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
The reason our federal dietary guidelines “may be more interested in protecting industry interests than adhering to the science” is not only because of conflicts of interest at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but also conflicts of interest on the official Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee itself.
On the 1995 panel, there was a guy funded by Mars, the candy bar company. He also served on McDonald’s Corporation’s Global Advisory Council on Healthy Lifestyles.
Dr. Garza was a visiting professor with the National Dairy Council—I didn’t even know they had professors.
He was also VP and on the board of Dannon Institute. Irwin served on Coca Cola’s Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. I wonder what his thoughts are on sugar-sweetened beverages. And Dr. Schneeman has received money from the National Dairy Board, and the National Dairy Promotion Board. And was President of the Dannon Institute.
In 2000, our visiting professor was back, and we got someone else funded by the National Dairy Promotion Board, as well as the National Live Stock and Meat Board.
Joanna Dwyer, whom I know all too well having attended Tufts Med, served the American Meat Institute, the National Dairy Promotion Board, and “worked for Procter & Gamble as the company’s Duncan Hines ‘brand girl’ and then as its Crisco brand girl.” You know you’re in trouble when U.S. nutrition policy is being decided by a former brand girl of cake and Crisco.
Scrambling science for the American Egg Board; milking the National Dairy Council; milk; dairy; dairy; dairy; milk; dairy; and none other than the “the star of a new Anheuser move to publicize the health benefits of beer consumption.” That’s who was forming official nutrition policy in the United States.
In 2005, the Egg Board was back; the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the M&M Mars Scientific Advisory Board; Sugar Association; Coca-Cola; Hershey’s; McDonald’s; Sara Lee; and the Snack Food Association. Give me a break.
Lots of drug companies; Campbell’s soup—wonder what his take is on sodium intake? A single can can exceed our entire daily upper limit. And dairy; dairy; dairy, milk, Kraft, dairy; dairy.
And finally, our 2010 committee: General Mills, Dannon, Kraft, Campbell’s, and another McDonald’s Global Advisor on Healthy Lifestyles.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Peter Mellor.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
Republishing "Dietary Guidelines: Advisory Committee Conflicts of Interest"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
Dietary Guidelines: Advisory Committee Conflicts of Interest
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Be sure to check out all my other videos on dietary guidelines and industry influence.
For more context, also check out my associated blog post: Dietary Guideline Graphics: From the Food Pyramid to My Plate, Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate, and PCRM’s Power Plate.
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to our free newsletter. With your subscription, you'll also get notifications for just-released blogs and videos. Check out our information page about our translated resources.
Previous Video
Next Video
