HFCS, Table Sugar and Fluoride Are Harmless To Your Children!

...at least that's what the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) are saying. Dietitians, the so-called authorities on nutritional advice and therapy, are telling you and your kids that it's absolutely safe to to consume HFCS and sugar products as they set out to dispel the myths surrounding these terribly misunderstood food stuff.

Now, what would motivate an organization of health and wellness promoters to make such proclamations? A thread of mine may shed some light on this...

After doing a little bit of digging, I've found some information that is a bit startling. The American Dietetic Association(ADA) is surprisingly sponsored by a few unsuspected companies:

The Coca-Cola Company ( the world’s largest beverage company, markets more than 400 brands in 200 countries, including sparkling and diet beverages, juices and juice drinks, waters, teas, coffees, energy and sports drinks.)

National Dairy Council (is the nutrition research, education and communications arm of Dairy Management Inc™)

PepsiCo (PepsiCo is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, with 2006 annual revenues of more than $35 billion.)

CoroWise (are also recognized by a Food and Drug Administration health claim as a dietary approach for reduced risk of heart disease.)

General Mills (World's sixth largest food company)

Kellog's (With 2005 sales in excess of $10 billion, Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) is the world's leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods.)

MARS (is a privately-held company that produces some of the world’s leading snackfood, food, petcare, beverage and health and nutrition products, and operates in more than 65 countries.)

SOYJOY (SOYJOY® is an all-natural snack with a home-baked taste that provides wholesome nutrition in each serving.)


I mean, hey, why not sponsor the ADA if you're an enormous Company that provides food to the world. You, major food producer, support them, the ADA, and they keep you in business by not relseasing studies that could cut into your profits; and vice versa, by releasing studies that unscientifically support your products, thereby increasing your profits.

Brilliant! Industry Support! A little bit of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours!". Because Coca Cola is sponsoring....errrr funding the ADA's efforts, they asked for a nice little scratch back! Except, they got a full body massage instead:

Dietitians Are Buying Coke’s Line: Sugar, Fluoride, Artificial Colors are SAFE for Children

We wish we could say we are surprised. Registered dietitians are now being given formal education by the Coca-Cola Company on how safe its ingredients are.

The credentialing arm of the American Dietetic Association, the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), has approved a program created by the The Coca-Cola Company Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. This covers what it calls “urban myths” about the safety of food ingredients. Participating in this program will earn registered dietitians Continuing Professional Education unit credits.

What the what? Just so you understand this correctly. The health and wellness department of Coca Cola created a program that registered dietitians can take to earn Continued Education credits, which must be taken regularly to maintain registration.

“Children’s Dietary Recommendations: When Urban Myths, Opinions, Parental Perceptions & Evidence Collide,” tells dietitians that fluoride, sugar, artificial colors and nonnutritive sweeteners have been “carefully examined for their effects on children’s health, growth, and development.” The presenter, Dr. Ronald Kleinman, “explores prevalent misconceptions about these food ingredients” and suggests ways the dietitian can help quell unnecessary “concern among parents about their children’s health.”

Who is this Ronald Kleinman fellow?

He is physician-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, chief of the Pediatric Gastrointestinal and Nutrition Unit, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Nice resume, I would say. But, what's in that closet of his? According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), it's full of integrity....or lack thereof:

Dr. Ronald Kleinman is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School who has received money from industry sources (like artificial infant formula manufacturers Mead Johnson and Nestle Ltd). His study on optimal duration of breastfeeding was funded by Gerber Products. He also served as a paid expert witness for Gerber when they were sued for deceptive advertising. And he contributed to a brochure intended for children entitled “Variety’s Mountain” produced by the Sugar Association.

ethicalnag.org...
www.cspinet.org...

Basically, Coca Cola is using this guy to tell dietitians with the slight of a hand, "These aren't the foods you are avoiding." And now, like idiot storm-troopers tricked by a Master Jedi, you'll have Dietitians telling parents, "These coke products aren't the bad foods and drinks you are looking to avoid."

Program materials include gems like “[a] majority of studies so far have not found a link between sugar and behavior in children generally or children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.” This is certainly news to us, since we have seen many studies that say the opposite. Apparently the dietitians are to teach us that any connection between artificial colors and neurotoxicity, or fears of the dangers of fluoride, are imaginary and come from hysterical (or at least unduly concerned) parents.

I could conclude this by making this an endless post of studies dating back 50 years 'til now showing the deleterious effects of sugar consumption. I could post all of the HFCS studies. And, although I'm on the fence about it, I could post all of the studies showing the inconclusive, ambiguous findings associated with fluoridated water consumption. But I'm not. Look it up yourself...Google Scholar.

THIS is exactly why we can't simply trust the experts because they belong to a three-letter association.

The American Heart Association (AHA) is sponsored by AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company that manufactures drugs like Crestor, Subway, the insanely carb heavy sub sandwhich chain, and Healthy Choice, a food manufacturer that clearly benefits by putting the Heart Healthy sticker from the AHA on their products.

It looks as though AstraZeneca began sponsoring the AHA in 2007. Why does this matter? Well, it's funny how in 2005, the AHA released a negative report about Crestor, AstraZeneca's cholesterol lowering medicine, which promptly led to a drop in Crestor's market share.

Now, after the sponsorship.....

Crestor Study Will Boost Statin Demand
In a study that will likely change medical practice, researchers reported that Crestor, a cholesterol-fighting statin made by AstraZeneca (AZN), reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular disease by a surprisingly robust 45% in people who do not have high cholesterol. The patients did have high levels of a protein associated with arterial inflammation that is not routinely measured.

Medical experts said the results, released Nov. 9 at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting in New Orleans, will almost certainly expand the market for statins, already the world's best-selling drugs. They also will likely spark demand for a controversial and costly test for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker for inflammation, which has some practitioners worried about the cost/benefit of extrapolating the research to the general population.

When you're armed with this information, you can make an informed decision when being advised by the "experts". Hopefully this will prompt you to do your own digging to find who's in bed with whom giving them a full body massage. Conspiracies aren't everywhere in health science, but if you follow the money, you just might stumble across something that will forever change the way you see an organization, company or person.

I'm bumping this because I can't believe nobody had anything to say about it...