The Highwire with Del Bigtree - THE BIG FOOD BUREAUCRAT BUYOUT

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Like Big Tobacco and Big Ag before, the megalithic American food industry is infected with conflicts of interest that have resulted in a generational health crisis. Can it be changed?#BigFood Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

Moving to the health conversation here, we're going to need a really activated population because here's the headlines coming out here. Let's talk about diabetes, obesity. Type 2 diabetes cases among young people skyrocketing due to rising obesity rates. Remember, type 2 is lifestyle-related diabetes. And here's obesity nation's obesity epidemic is growing 19 states. Have adult obesity rates above 35% up from 16 states last year. And even this headline, you know, it goes all the way into cognitive issues,

is ultra-processed food intake linked with cognitive decline study. And so where can we point to this? Well, there is an organization. They started in 1917. They have the roots. And it's called the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. And they're responsible. If you go to their website, they say this is their mission.

The Academy is committed to improving the nation's health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research education and advocacy. Dell, this reminds me a little bit of HHS saying their mission is to enhance the health. and well-being of Americans through scientific research and public health. So we have this organization and boy on their watch they're really not doing a good job. So what gives? Well scratch under the surface a little more thanks to the U.S. right to know it's a nonprofit organization. We have some FOIA emails and here's the headline out of the Guardian reveals group shaping U.S. nutrition receives millions from big food industry. It goes on to say the academy they call them accepted at least 15 million from

corporate and organizational contributors from 2011 to 2017 and over 4.5 million in additional funding went to the Academy's Foundation, which is that nonprofit foundation they have. Among the highest contributions came from companies such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Hershey, Kellogg's, General Mills, Conagra, and then National Dairy Council and the Baby Formula producer, Abbott Nutrition. Now, Del, hold on and listen to this. It goes on to say the email reveals the Academy in 2015 was in a sponsorship deal with Abbott and was discussing how the Academy could use its dietitians' influence in pediatrician's offices

to push Pediatricure, one of the pharmaceutical giants' infant nutritional products. Abbott at the time had in place a two-year, $300,000 sponsorship deal. It goes on to say the Academy also owned Abbott stock at the time of the deal and plans a record show. It also owned stock in companies with which it had a sponsorship deal,

PepsiCo, as well as financial contributors like Nestle. This is Gary Ruskin. He's the head of U.S. right to know. He says, this is astounding. That belongs in the conflicts of interest, Hall of Fame. It is off the charts. He says, and then it goes on to say separately in 2015, a partnership between the Academy and Kraft ignited controversy when the Academy agreed to allow the company to put its Kids Eat Healthy Seal on Crafts Packaging, which suggests an independent source verified the product's nutritional value. But you and I know that they didn't. Wow.

So you want to talk about the baby. formulas just as a side note to that remember there was a recall of similac in this country this was a big story here and this was one of the headlines the the legal the legal industry really jumped on this because they they were pushing suits for for infant deaths wrongful infant deaths in wake of simulac recall fd announces strategy to keep chronobacter out of infant formula products that's the bacteria so ab had to close his plants because of a necrotizing enterocolitis that's the nec these are lawsuits from from kids in the NICU that were given this, this formula. And, you know, they basically passed away because it was, it was this stomach,

basically a stomach of formula that was eating their stomach. It was a pretty terrible situation. But Abbott, you know, internal emails show that Abbott knew about this and they still market it to the hospitals, you know, the typical corporate playbook. But this is what's going on behind the scenes here. There's, you know, there's real damage when these organizations that, you know, I've heard some people say, oh, it's agency captures, is great. It helps them work more closely with the industry.

Oh, my God. Not to the evidence I've seen. And so here's the paper. Those FOIA documents, those internal emails were actually incorporated into a research paper. And this is the paper. If anyone wants to read it, it's a long read and it's amazing. The corporate capture of the nutrition profession in the USA, the case of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Now, understand, they are influential at setting the U.S. dietary guidelines. So that's a huge thing. they're also big in lobbying for any changes of the state for health and nutrition. So that's a big deal because that's where a lot of these guidelines really do come from. And so we have this organization, really a bohemist organization that's a front for our companies.

But we also have as a last stopgap measure, like the ASIP committee, we have this independent advisory committee that sets the dietary guidelines. It's the dietary guidelines advisory committee. And so this was a study showing how they were balanced. Was there conflicts of interest within this committee? Remember, this is kind of the last stopgap independent committee for these dietary guidelines. Here's the headline, conflicts of interest for members of the U.S. 2020 dietary guidelines advisory committee says here, results. Researchers write, our analysis found that 95% of the committee members had conflicts of interest with food and or pharmaceutical industries.

And that particular actors, here we go again, including Kellogg, it, Kraft, Meade Johnson, General Mills, Danin, and the international life science had connections with multiple members. Research funding and membership of an advisory executive board jointly accounted for more than 60% of the total number conflicts of interest documented. So their top heavy, their leadership is conflicted. So you know what's going to come below that is more conflicts of interest. And so, you know, Del, the reason we report on this so much, people say, I know this story, I know this story, but until we can clean this up, until we can get everyone on the same page and realize that these industries and these watchdogs

may not be working in our best interest. That's one of the biggest first steps to changing culture and to changing how we live in everyday lives when it comes to these overarching agencies. Yeah, I mean, it truly is the regulatory swamp. I think at this point, I'm resigned to just assuming every regulatory agency that says it's looking out for my own good is probably mostly being staffed

by executives from the very industry. I'm supposed to be being protected from, whether it's aviation, drugs, vaccines, food. I mean, the environment, you name it, it just seems like regulatory capture is complete. And anybody that thinks it's a good idea, then there's a couple bridges in this country I'd like to sell you. These are outrageous times. It is really the forefront of our work, Jeffrey. And it's what I'm really excited about. People have been watching throughout this year, we really are taking this knowledge that you and

and I and our team has gained through being very specific early on for the last, you know, five or more years, however long we've been doing the high wire now since 2017. But that work was really specifically around vaccines and that research. Well, we really have, I think, completed all the research that needed to be done or could be done on the childhood vaccine program. Now we're going to be connecting the dots of the COVID vaccine to that program so people understand it. But our understanding that we've gained in.

going down all of those rabbit holes opening every door, talking to all the legislatures involved, we now see the pattern and are understanding these other issues, whether it's banking or energy, food supply, all of that, which is why it's been so exciting to be stepping into these other spaces. And we're going to be doing a lot more of that, as we've discussed, as we move into the next year, really broadening, you know, our view. And we're still going to hold on to this sort of transparency, you know, that we're talking about. We talk about the High Wire Protocol, but moving into these other sectors that I think are really going to be affecting our lives and certainly our children's and grandchildren's lives. But it all comes down to this generation, this moment.

And I'm just so proud of the work that you did throughout this year. And of course, all the way through COVID, just you're such a fantastic team player. And it's just an honor to know you. And I look forward to, you know, getting even deeper in these issues in the new year. Oh, thanks, Stell. That's really sweet to say. You know,