*UPDATE! Is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Another Group “Owned” by the Junk Food Industry?

This is an update to the story I wrote earlier this month:

I just found this article written by a woman who just completed a nutritionist course. Here is a snippet of what she wrote:

I decided that it would be a unique “cultural exchange” to experience what traditional Nutritionists learn. Although I did learn a few useful things that I will outline below, for the most part I was shocked and disappointed to see the mis-truths and lack of unbiased information being presented to the students. Well, we all know that industry sponsors many universities through expensive grants, so could we really expect these teaching institutions to maintain an impartial perspective?

Many times during the course, I felt like I was being fed propaganda created directly by the food industry and/or Monsanto themselves. I actually feel bad for anyone who spends the money on a 4-year Nutrition Degree, because they may enter their study with high hopes of helping others, but how can they really help guide others through nutrition and diet when they are being taught lies? It’s truly a shame to see a system that is so broken and so far away from the relevance of a real natural, whole and pure diet and its effect on one’s health.

You can read more here.

In my opinion, anyone who pays attention can see that the food industry is doing its best to pollute our health professionals with their profit driven propaganda. And it appears that those in charge of these institutions have no problem “prostituting” themselves to make that “all mighty dollar.”

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I read an article the other day in the Huffington Post written by an “expert” in nutrition, who represents, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND), the world’s largest non-profit organization of food and nutrition professionals. What I read made my jaw drop. I don’t know why I still get surprised when I read something that clearly favors the junk food industry over educating the public as to what foods are healthy. You can read the article here if you would like to know more. The title is, “8 Things Nutrition Experts Wish You Would Stop Saying About Food.” What they should have added was: “Brought to you by, Sara Lee, Kelloggs, and Coco Cola.”

The gist of the article states there is no nutritional difference between a bowl of Cheerios and a bowl of brown rice with steamed vegetables. It is clear to anyone who knows even a smidgen about a healthy diet can see it for what it is: an infomercial for the processed, junk food industry.

I was not the only who was upset over this article written in the Huffington Post (whom I trusted in the past to offer well informed, well thought out stories…but maybe I was naïve?). Other health bloggers wrote responses too.

This is apparently not new. A post written in “DietsinReview.com” last year pointed out:

Actually, the problem is bigger than the Academy. It’s a problem bred by our capitalist society. As long as public health agencies and non-profits are poor while private corporations are flush, public-private partnerships between health groups and big business will remain. Diet Coke partners with NIH to sponsor The Heart Truth® campaign to raise women’s awareness of heart disease (despite some association between diet soda and heart health); Wal-Mart supports Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative while driving their employees to taxpayer assistance programs; McDonald’s sponsored the 2012 London Olympics undeterred by the obesity crisis. This is how the world works today.

Then… I found this video on You Tube that confirmed my suspicions. ACEND gets contributions from (guess who) the wonderful members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The same group who are suing Vermont over GMO food labeling.

It looks like the food industry will continue to try and sell the public chicken shit and package it as chicken salad.


About Inge

Cancer survivor. Healthy organic food coach. Public speaker. If you have a story you want told, contact me at iscott.orangejuiceblog@gmail.com/