FOOD INDUSTRY
ACCUSED IN CHINA
China’s efforts to keep
obesity in check have been
undermined from the inside
by the food industry, a
Chinese descent Harvard
University scholar claims.
Susan Greenhalgh says a group
funded by Coca-Cola and other food
companies enjoys close ties to Chinese
health officials and has helped tilt the
country’s obesity fight with the message that
exercise matters more than dietary habits - a
way of deflecting attention from food’s role in
fuelling obesity. The International Life Sciences
Institute (ILSI) was created in 1978 by a former
Coke executive, and has 17 branches around the
world, she says. In China, its small but influential
branch organises obesity conferences focusing
on physical activity, with speakers including
Coke-funded researchers and a Coke executive.
This approach, Greenhalgh says, is familiar to
Americans - facing criticism over its sugary drinks
in the US in 2013, Coca-Cola ran a television
ad showing activities that can burn the “140
happy calories” in a can of Coke. The activities
included walking a dog, dancing, bowling and
sharing a laugh with friends. In another online ad
in the US, the company showed people working
off the calories in a can of Coke by riding a
giant stationary bicycle as carnival music plays.
The phrase ‘Movement is Happiness’ appears
on screen toward the end. Greenhalgh says
it is difficult to untangle how much of China’s
emphasis on exercise in recent years can be
attributed to ILSI’s influence, but says foodmakers
may be skewing public policy around the world.
MY SAY
“There’s virtually no research on the incredibly
complicated network by which ILSI Global and
all its branches have been influencing obesity
science,” she says. In response, ILSI says it has
instituted guidelines in recent years to ensure
scientific integrity. “The journey to best-in-class
nutrition and food safety science research has
been a circuitous one. Not surprisingly, there have
been bumps along the way,” it says. McDonald’s
former chief spokesman Mike Donahue says
efforts to improve the health of customers may
be seen as nefarious, but are intended to put
foods in the context of overall lifestyles. In 2004,
McDonald’s launched a campaign featuring
‘Adult Happy Meals’ with pedometers and events
where Ronald McDonald promoted exercise.
The campaign was partly in anticipation of the
documentary Super Size Me that detailed how a
diet of McDonald’s led to poor health. “It’s playing
offence rather than defence,” he says.
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