Nonprofit organizations exposed: American Dietetic Association and others in bed with Monsanto

Tuesday, October 09, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: American Dietetic Association, Monsanto, corporate money

(NaturalNews) There is a reason why the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which was recently renamed the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), often makes ridiculous nutrition recommendations such as to eat lots of grains as part of a "healthy" diet, or to avoid eating fats, particularly saturated fats, which it falsely suggests are harmful to health. It turns out that this nonprofit organization and many others routinely accept cash contributions and sponsorships from major industry players like Monsanto, Procter & Gamble, and the National Dairy Council, which steer the types of information they disseminate publicly.

According to information compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a food safety and nutrition advocacy group, the ADA, for years, has been accepting cash donations from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and processed food industries in exchange for allowing these industries to basically publish its materials, and craft its nutrition advice. Back in 1996, for instance, ADA accepted large cash contributions from Kellogg's, Kraft Foods, Nestle USA, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Monsanto, Nabisco, Procter & Gamble, and others, all of which were given access to the development of a number of official ADA "fact sheets."

ADA 'fact sheets' often nothing more than industry propaganda

These fact sheets, of course, were distributed to the public as trusted nutrition guides, and contained all sorts of flawed information about "healthy eating" such as recommendations to eat more canola, corn, and soybean oils, and to avoid saturated fats like coconut oil and butter. These same ADA fact sheets have been instrumental over the years in making people view "fats" in general as unhealthy, which has led to much confusion about the importance of eating healthy fats, as well as a massive upswing in chronic disease rates all across the board.

In 1999, the ADA actually partnered with the ConAgra Foundation, which pushes all sorts of unhealthy, processed foods on the public that contain genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), harmful additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG), refined sugars and flours, and other toxins, to put out a pamphlet entitled, "Home Food Safety: It's in Your Hands." This guide specifically directs people away from drinking whole, raw milk, for instance, because of its supposed "dangers," and instead encourages people to basically eat all their foods heavily cooked. (http://www.cmu.edu)

ADA partnership with drug industry responsible for bias against dietary supplements

That same year, it was announced that ADA had partnered with the pharmaceutical industry and Monsanto to "educate" the public on the "appropriate" use of dietary supplements. As can be expected, this unbelievable conflict of interest led ADA to generally discourage the use of supplements by ordinary folks. ADA's position today suggests that most people do not need dietary supplements, and that those who do take them without any obvious health problems are attempting to shortcut their way to nutrition by not having to eat fruits and vegetables.

As we have pointed out numerous times before here at Natural News, dietary supplements can be highly beneficial for many seemingly-healthy people because the modern food supply, which is largely grown industrially in nutrient-deficient soils, lacks basic nutritional elements. On top of this, the government's recommended daily allowances (RDA) for various vitamins and minerals are far too low to maintain optimal health anyway -- and ADA, of course, aligns itself with this flawed RDA paradigm.

You can view a more complete list of CSPI-compiled information on ADA's connections with industry here: http://cspinet.org

You can also view a complete index of nonprofit organizations that receive corporate funding here:
http://cspinet.org/integrity/nonprofits/index.html

Sources for this article include:

http://cspinet.org