Advisors to new nutrition guidelines rife with conflicts of interest
When RFK, Jr. dismissed the old advisors, he cited their corporate ties. Their replacements took cash from the National Cattlemen Beef Association and National Dairy Council, among others.
First, a mea culpa. Yesterday, I failed to confirm claims in several news accounts that the Health and Human Services did not issue a scientific report backing the claims contained in the new nutrition guidelines.
In fact, thanks to StatNews reporting this morning, I learned that there was a report entitled “The Scientific for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans” on the Department of Agriculture website. The 90-page report’s acknowledgements listed as its primary author, Dr. Christopher Ramsden from the National Institute on Aging. He received unnamed “input and revisions” from unnamed persons at the HHS and Agriculture departments.
The report also listed the names of its 9-member scientific review panel with their financial conflicts-of-interest disclosure statements.
So a tip of the hat to RFK, Jr. for fully disclosing that information. But put a dunce cap on his hypocritical head for allowing onto the review panel six reviewers with financial ties to corporate interests with a direct stake in the outcome of the guidelines. There is no evidence that this committee, two-thirds of whom have ties to industry, received vetting under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1948.
FACA prohibits advisors with conflicts of interest from serving on federal advisory committees unless they have officially received a waiver declaring their expertise essential and unavailable from other, non-conflicted sources. When I went to see if such waivers existed, I learned the General Service Administration’s FACA committee database is currently “not operational.”
For the record, here the names, affiliations and financial ties of those six scientific reviewers:
J. Thomas Brenna, Dell Pediatric Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin: Consulting or research fees from Nutricia, a subsidiary of Danone, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association/Texas Beef Council; served on a General Mills and Washington Grain Commission panel reviewing healthfulness of grains; lecturer with travel reimbursement from American Dairy Science Association.
Michael Goran, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California: Scientific Advisor to Else Nutrition, Bobbie Labs (infant formula companies) and Begin Health (produces gut health supplements for babies and infants).
Donald Layman, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Consultant fees and/or honoraria from National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Dairy Council, and Functional Medicine. Serves on the advisory board of the non-profit Nutrient Institute, which is wholly funded by Nutrient Foods LLC.
Heather Leidy, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin: Honoraria and/or research grants from General Mills’ Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Board and Novo Nordisk. Serves on the advisory boards of General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, Rivalz, and National Pork Board.
Ameer Taha, University of California, Davis: Honoraria from the California Dairy Innovation Center; research grants from Fonterra Ltd. (a New Zealand-based dairy cooperative with U.S. operations), California Dairy Research Foundation, and Dairy Management Inc.
Jeff Volek, The Ohio State University: Co-founder and owner of Virta Health (a firm promoting ketogenic diets to reverse diabetes); advisor to Simply Good Foods.
So much for eliminating corporate influence from official government policy, a stated Make America Healthy Again goal. I wonder if RFK Jr. will let his followers know.
America's problem is that lawyers, lobbyists, consultants, the Big AG, Big Business and 'Wellness/Influencer' Industrial complexes for maximum profits run everything through bought and sold (like a bottle of milk) politicians who pay campaign contributions that are nothing but bribes. Try the European way, FRESH, in season foods, moderate portions, la dolce vita style, using common sense, not driving thru fast food drive throughs, stuffing yourselves with junk foods and chips, candy, etc at convenience stores or buying appalling garbage at the grocery stores, which are stuffed with it. The American diet is truly disgusting. First thing you notice when you get off the plane here is how FAT people are.
Emily Oster, a Brown University economist and “influencer” on all things “parental” who claims to follow scientific evidence, just whitewashed these new recommendations. Merrill, did you see this and what do you think about her comments?