6 ms·

Revealed: Group shaping US nutrition receives millions from big food industry

153 points by sahin 4y ago

lotsofpulp 4y ago
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a lobbying group, why would this be surprising to anyone? They have no official government function. Edit: It appears I am wrong, and it is not just a lobbying group. They also issue the licensing needed to sell diet advice in many states. https://www.cdrnet.org/# https://www.cdrnet.org/#
- smitty1e 4y ago
  This would be surprising to those not paying attention, who ascribe noble intent to those in offices.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - kemitchell 4y ago
    You'd have to pay little attention indeed to ascribe inerrant nobility to public office.
ElfinTrousers 4y ago
I thought this had been common knowledge for years.
- fsflover 4y ago
  Just like Snowden's revelations?
  - ElfinTrousers 4y ago
    That's funny, I was just thinking about that the other day, how fine the climax of Catch-22 is. Shame about all the misogyny.
    - selimthegrim 4y ago
      I think the flesh and blood Snowden is meant here
      - ElfinTrousers 4y ago
        The who now?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
Overtonwindow 4y ago
The Academy and nutrition and dietetics depend on dietitians renewing their Registered Dietitian credential. That's how they make money. In order to force the issue, the AND's lobbyists have gone around the country and made it so that you are required to have a license in 14 states to talk with another individual about food and nutrition. The AND made it so that in order to get that license you must be a registered dietitian, in other words, you must pay a private organization for the privilege to pay the government for a license to talk about food and nutrition. It's a classic government back monopoly that has no positive impact on society, other than protectionism of an outdated business model. https://ij.org/client/heather-kokesch-del-castillo/ https://ij.org/client/heather-kokesch-del-castillo/
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  This is interesting, and would have been the relevant information for Guardian to provide in the article.
mythhouse 4y ago
How is this group "shaping US nutrition". Thats quite a claim.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  If you want to sell diet advice in many states, you have to be certified by them: https://www.cdrnet.org/# https://www.cdrnet.org/#
  - mythhouse 4y ago
    right but what fraction of ppl follow these dieticians. Let alone whole of "us nutrition"
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      I do not know, but the people they certify, and only they are allowed to certify, are working in hospitals and advising patients, and their advice is legally protected by various state governments. I doubt the dietician giving advice to patients is announcing the conflict of interest.
    - iosono88 4y ago
      [dead]
    - spfzero 4y ago
      They are considered "experts" by the media, for one thing. So if you read an article on nutrition and some "expert" or other is quoted, and you act on its advice, then you might be in that fraction.
magic_hamster 4y ago
The title might be overblown but I've come to fully expect every government agency is somehow influenced (to say the least) by some organization or another with an ulterior motive. It appears this is just the way the system is set up. Everyone has something to gain from this influence (except the public of course). I've come to accept this as a fact of life and think for myself. Do my own research, consult professionals in matters that are important to me.
- objetovoador 4y ago
  > It appears this is just the way the system is set up. The wisdom of limited government is that any sufficiently powerful political organization will be corrupted and abused. There is no force worse than corrupted political power. Businesses come and go relatively quickly but governments metastasize and ossify.
  - kaibee 4y ago
    > The wisdom of limited government is that any sufficiently powerful political organization will be corrupted and abused. When accumulated political power is broken up, it doesn't magically return to individuals who are then able to consciously and intelligently allocate it better. It creates a power vacuum (this is one of those terms that was named backwards imo, because its more like a power feeding frenzy). The result is that that power is most likely to be captured by the next most interested actors, only now they aren't even beholden to democracy. This is, imo, an equally convincing 'just-so' story about political power, but I'm humble enough to recognize that (but not so humble that I won't reply at all). The thing with these political/organizational structure things, is that they're very complicated and fuzzy. There is no one size fits all prescription that fixes everything. You have to look at all of the underlying incentive structures and untangle them. Otherwise you won't understand what the problem was to begin with. This sucks and is hard.
    - objetovoador 4y ago
      > only now they aren't even beholden to democracy Except practically everyone considers our representatives next to useless - look at congress’s approval rating. That’s why if anything local government is the most important. It’s the most limited, fundamentally, and capable of being reformed & truly representative. Democracy doesn’t even ensure that power isn’t abused, if anything it gives the false impression that abusive power is legitimate because there was an election.
mfer 4y ago
If you lookup the histories of the people making the decisions you’ll see their connections to industry. The chair of the committee who oversees dietary recommendations is listed as a professor. She got that for filling for retirement as a professor more than a decade ago. Has worked in industry lobbying and funding industry studies prior to gov work. Not an impartial person. Edit: her LinkedIn is https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-schneeman-ph-d-a99b6829 https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-schneeman-ph-d-a99b6829. The Damon institute funds stuff for the yogurt company
brodouevencode 4y ago
This has to have implications on why no two studies are ever quite the same, and rarely reproducible. Yet another "study": https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26980822/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26980822/
robotnikman 4y ago
This is one of the reasons why I look at nutritional and medicinal guidelines recommended by other countries outside the US.
- tabtab 4y ago
  Eat & exercise like a medieval peasant to be healthy. Oil/fat, sugar, salt, starch (bleached and de-fibered flower) should be avoided. However, these things make food taste good. The ugly truth is healthy food is bland. Any "trick" wears out fast, as you grow tired of it.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - snowpid 4y ago
    " The ugly truth is healthy food is bland. " I doubt it.
    - tabtab 4y ago
      In my personal opinion and observation the "bad stuff" is indeed usually what makes food taste good: salt, sugar, starch, fat/oil, MSG, etc. There does not seem to be any way around that. In the end most will try to find a compromise. I already did long search for a grand alternative. Spices may help some, but the "kick" grows mundane over time.
  - amanaplanacanal 4y ago
    Were medieval peasants healthy? Some would say eat and exercise like a Hunter-gatherer.
    - tabtab 4y ago
      No, but because they didn't get medical treatment and were often overworked even when injured. I guess I should have clarified that part because I did not mean to fully clone 100% the peasant life-style.
Darwingirl11 4y ago
This is common complaint at science conferences. Research dollars often go towards shiny things instead of knowledge that will advance diagnostic theory and serve the highest good. Without accurate theory, we cannot advance. The Mediterranean diet is a classic example. Once the researchers were able to show it had some health benefits, it received huge amounts of funding for years. They were able to publish again and again, gaining publicity, gaining more funding and giving the illusion of superiority over other, less-researched, dietary and nutritional tools. Imagine if they had sought to understand how it actually works? We need to ensure that research dollars go towards meaningful projects that seek truth, maintain objectivity and advance knowledge, not agendas.
thefurdrake 4y ago
This is entirely shocking to me and definitely doesn't just promote a sigh, an eyeroll, and a disturbingly-existential internal observation on the futility of getting anything non-money-related done in good faith when money is involved.

153 points by sahin 4y ago

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a lobbying group, why would this be surprising to anyone? They have no official government function. Edit: It appears I am wrong, and it is not just a lobbying group. They also issue the licensing needed to sell diet advice in many states. https://www.cdrnet.org/# https://www.cdrnet.org/#

smitty1e 4y ago
This would be surprising to those not paying attention, who ascribe noble intent to those in offices.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- kemitchell 4y ago
  You'd have to pay little attention indeed to ascribe inerrant nobility to public office.

ElfinTrousers 4y ago

I thought this had been common knowledge for years.

fsflover 4y ago
Just like Snowden's revelations?
- ElfinTrousers 4y ago
  That's funny, I was just thinking about that the other day, how fine the climax of Catch-22 is. Shame about all the misogyny.
  - selimthegrim 4y ago
    I think the flesh and blood Snowden is meant here
    - ElfinTrousers 4y ago
      The who now?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

Overtonwindow 4y ago

The Academy and nutrition and dietetics depend on dietitians renewing their Registered Dietitian credential. That's how they make money. In order to force the issue, the AND's lobbyists have gone around the country and made it so that you are required to have a license in 14 states to talk with another individual about food and nutrition. The AND made it so that in order to get that license you must be a registered dietitian, in other words, you must pay a private organization for the privilege to pay the government for a license to talk about food and nutrition. It's a classic government back monopoly that has no positive impact on society, other than protectionism of an outdated business model. https://ij.org/client/heather-kokesch-del-castillo/ https://ij.org/client/heather-kokesch-del-castillo/

lotsofpulp 4y ago
This is interesting, and would have been the relevant information for Guardian to provide in the article.

mythhouse 4y ago

How is this group "shaping US nutrition". Thats quite a claim.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
If you want to sell diet advice in many states, you have to be certified by them: https://www.cdrnet.org/# https://www.cdrnet.org/#
- mythhouse 4y ago
  right but what fraction of ppl follow these dieticians. Let alone whole of "us nutrition"
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    I do not know, but the people they certify, and only they are allowed to certify, are working in hospitals and advising patients, and their advice is legally protected by various state governments. I doubt the dietician giving advice to patients is announcing the conflict of interest.
  - iosono88 4y ago
    [dead]
  - spfzero 4y ago
    They are considered "experts" by the media, for one thing. So if you read an article on nutrition and some "expert" or other is quoted, and you act on its advice, then you might be in that fraction.

magic_hamster 4y ago

The title might be overblown but I've come to fully expect every government agency is somehow influenced (to say the least) by some organization or another with an ulterior motive. It appears this is just the way the system is set up. Everyone has something to gain from this influence (except the public of course). I've come to accept this as a fact of life and think for myself. Do my own research, consult professionals in matters that are important to me.

objetovoador 4y ago
> It appears this is just the way the system is set up. The wisdom of limited government is that any sufficiently powerful political organization will be corrupted and abused. There is no force worse than corrupted political power. Businesses come and go relatively quickly but governments metastasize and ossify.
- kaibee 4y ago
  > The wisdom of limited government is that any sufficiently powerful political organization will be corrupted and abused. When accumulated political power is broken up, it doesn't magically return to individuals who are then able to consciously and intelligently allocate it better. It creates a power vacuum (this is one of those terms that was named backwards imo, because its more like a power feeding frenzy). The result is that that power is most likely to be captured by the next most interested actors, only now they aren't even beholden to democracy. This is, imo, an equally convincing 'just-so' story about political power, but I'm humble enough to recognize that (but not so humble that I won't reply at all). The thing with these political/organizational structure things, is that they're very complicated and fuzzy. There is no one size fits all prescription that fixes everything. You have to look at all of the underlying incentive structures and untangle them. Otherwise you won't understand what the problem was to begin with. This sucks and is hard.
  - objetovoador 4y ago
    > only now they aren't even beholden to democracy Except practically everyone considers our representatives next to useless - look at congress’s approval rating. That’s why if anything local government is the most important. It’s the most limited, fundamentally, and capable of being reformed & truly representative. Democracy doesn’t even ensure that power isn’t abused, if anything it gives the false impression that abusive power is legitimate because there was an election.

mfer 4y ago

If you lookup the histories of the people making the decisions you’ll see their connections to industry. The chair of the committee who oversees dietary recommendations is listed as a professor. She got that for filling for retirement as a professor more than a decade ago. Has worked in industry lobbying and funding industry studies prior to gov work. Not an impartial person. Edit: her LinkedIn is https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-schneeman-ph-d-a99b6829 https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-schneeman-ph-d-a99b6829. The Damon institute funds stuff for the yogurt company

brodouevencode 4y ago

This has to have implications on why no two studies are ever quite the same, and rarely reproducible. Yet another "study": https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26980822/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26980822/

robotnikman 4y ago

This is one of the reasons why I look at nutritional and medicinal guidelines recommended by other countries outside the US.

tabtab 4y ago
Eat & exercise like a medieval peasant to be healthy. Oil/fat, sugar, salt, starch (bleached and de-fibered flower) should be avoided. However, these things make food taste good. The ugly truth is healthy food is bland. Any "trick" wears out fast, as you grow tired of it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- snowpid 4y ago
  " The ugly truth is healthy food is bland. " I doubt it.
  - tabtab 4y ago
    In my personal opinion and observation the "bad stuff" is indeed usually what makes food taste good: salt, sugar, starch, fat/oil, MSG, etc. There does not seem to be any way around that. In the end most will try to find a compromise. I already did long search for a grand alternative. Spices may help some, but the "kick" grows mundane over time.
- amanaplanacanal 4y ago
  Were medieval peasants healthy? Some would say eat and exercise like a Hunter-gatherer.
  - tabtab 4y ago
    No, but because they didn't get medical treatment and were often overworked even when injured. I guess I should have clarified that part because I did not mean to fully clone 100% the peasant life-style.

Darwingirl11 4y ago

This is common complaint at science conferences. Research dollars often go towards shiny things instead of knowledge that will advance diagnostic theory and serve the highest good. Without accurate theory, we cannot advance. The Mediterranean diet is a classic example. Once the researchers were able to show it had some health benefits, it received huge amounts of funding for years. They were able to publish again and again, gaining publicity, gaining more funding and giving the illusion of superiority over other, less-researched, dietary and nutritional tools. Imagine if they had sought to understand how it actually works? We need to ensure that research dollars go towards meaningful projects that seek truth, maintain objectivity and advance knowledge, not agendas.

thefurdrake 4y ago

This is entirely shocking to me and definitely doesn't just promote a sigh, an eyeroll, and a disturbingly-existential internal observation on the futility of getting anything non-money-related done in good faith when money is involved.