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 2003 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 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:

· 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.

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.

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.

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).

Not so surprisingly, perhaps, is the fact that the CSPI did not include itself in the report…

If we want to blow the lid off completely, the time is NOW. We need to DEMAND from the media that they expose this nutritional Watergate completely – for once and for all.