Nutrition Science: Bought and Paid for by the Food Industry

Some academic nutritionists (or nutritionist-wannabes) are taking lots of money from food companies, a fact that makes it hard to know when nutrition science is serving the common good and when it is simply serving the public-relations needs of the food industry.

A report by Tom Avril in the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that the "seductive influence of corporate money on academia has attracted lots of attention when it comes to drug companies." But less well known are "close ties that often exist between nutritionists and the food industry." Some observers say that corporate money "can skew the credibility of science -- and in the worst cases, result in little more than paid product endorsements," Avril writes.

He provides several examples: a would-be head of the Obesity Society declines the job in the face of criticism of his role as a paid consultant to the New York restaurant industry; six members of a new, 13-member federal panel assembled to review governmental dietary guidelines receive money from the food and pharmaceutical industries; the American Dietetic Association accepts millions from the food industry to finance research.

But most of the article centers on Lisa Hark, who works at the University of Pennsylvania. Hark, identified by Avril as "a TV host," solicits for work on her personal Web site, asking companies, "Are you looking for a media expert to help promote and market your company?" For a time, the school's logo appeared on her site. And she is widely quoted in the media, often talking up the health benefits of foods produced by her corporate sponsors. Sometimes, the claims she makes are flimsy at best, as Avril illustrates exhaustively.

One observer told him: "For professionals to take money and believe they remain unbiased is contrary to both scientific evidence and common sense," Brownell said. "Otherwise, why would industry pay all that money?"