The Elephant in the Spoon: Recognizing Food Industry Influence in Nutrition Research

摘要

In 2015 Coca-Cola, in association with Mexico’s National Council for Science and Technology, established a yearly $100 000 grant for Mexican scientists.1 This grant was named after Ruben Lisker, a widely admired clinical researcher who passed away in 2015. The grant review panel includes nine well-established and highly respected Mexican scientists. As Marion Nestle describes in depth in her new book, Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat, Coca-Cola appears to be applying well-known strategies from the industry “playbook” to influence health research. Unsavory Truth’s important contribution is encouraging nutrition and public health professionals to recognize food industry influence and to transparently disclose financial relationships with companies. The book provides some recommendations (although difficult to implement) to manage the impact of industry funding on scientific integrity.