Immoral, unethical, dishonest academic institutional soul-selling needs to be part of the national health care discussion.
Dr. Eileen Kennedy, Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and president of a new industry, self “regulating,” food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices defends her support for giving a Smart Choice check to Froot Loops and other sugary cereals in the NYT 9/4/09:
“You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal,” Dr. Kennedy said, evoking a hypothetical parent in the supermarket. “So Froot Loops is a better choice.”
Yikes! What an embarrassment for Tufts. They charge over $40,000 a year for teaching about nutrition and the Dean of the School cannot imagine parents having a choice for breakfast food beyond, “doughnuts or Froot Loops.” It is difficult to imagine someone who has reached that level of academic success being quite that stupid, so it is reasonable to assume that for one reason or another she is willing to compromise her integrity and shill for industry and against the well being of her fellow Americans. Shame!
She evidently does not receive any direct compensation for her role as president of the sugar-pusher “Smart” Choices team, which makes it likely that if one looks into Tuft’s benefactors, one will find the big industrial food manufacturers buying off the University’s Nutritional Science program. I will forever look on anyone with a Tuft’s degree with skepticism. Who knows what they were taught? Clearly the curriculum can be purchased.
The Smart Choice’s program website says, “The Smart Choices Program was motivated by the need for a single, trusted and reliable front-of-pack nutrition labeling program that U.S. food manufacturers and retailers could voluntarily adopt to help guide consumers in making smarter food and beverage choices.” Hmmm…trusted like the Big Bad Wolf…
“Dr. Kennedy, who is not paid for her work on the program, defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children. …Froot Loops qualifies for the label because it meets standards set by the Smart Choices Program for fiber and Vitamins A and C, and because it does not exceed limits on fat, sodium and sugar. It contains the maximum amount of sugar allowed under the program for cereals, 12 grams per serving, which in the case of Froot Loops is 41 percent of the product, measured by weight. That is more sugar than in many popular brands of cookies.
“Froot Loops is an excellent source of many essential vitamins and minerals and it is also a good source of fiber with only 12 grams of sugar,” said Celeste A. Clark, senior vice president of global nutrition for Kellogg’s, which makes Froot Loops. “You cannot judge the nutritional merits of a food product based on one ingredient.” (Neuman, NYT 9/4/09)
Even if that one ingredient makes up 41% of the product ! I guess you could grind up cardboard (good fiber), throw in some synthetic vitamin A and C, add enough sugar to reach 41% or 12 grams per serving, and the Smart Choices group will give you a big, “buy this it’s good for you” Check Mark. I’m disgusted.
Corporations fight public standards and regulations, insisting that they do well monitoring themselves. There couldn’t be a better example of why they simply will not serve the public interest when easy profits are at stake.
Many parents are led to trust nutritional advice from such sources, and we end up with an unhealthy population and excess health costs. We cannot fix one without addressing the other.
