Study on obesity draws criticism

Coca-Cola gave money to research group led by CU medical school professor

Coca-Cola came under fire Monday for donating to a nonprofit, led by a University of Colorado School of Medicine professor, that has been spreading the message that the blame for America’s obesity epidemic is not about diet but a lack of exercise.

The issue, The New York Times reported, is that the view is misleading and meant to deflect attention from recent studies about sugary drinks and their link to obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

“Coca-Cola’s agenda here is very clear: Get these researchers to confuse the science and deflect attention from dietary intake,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, told The Times.

The New York Times reported that Coke gave $1.5 million to the Global Energy Balance Network.

James O. Hill, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is GEBN’s president.

Coca-Cola also donated $1 million to the University of Colorado Foundation in 2015.

On Monday afternoon, Hill, through the university, released a statement saying the reports oversimplified GEBN’s work.

“Recent media reports suggesting that the work of my colleagues and me promotes the idea that exercise is more important than diet in addressing obesity vastly oversimplifies this complex issue,” Hill said. “I can say unequivocally that diet is a critical component of weight control, as are exercise, stress management, sleep and environmental and other factors.”

Funding of GEBN from the soft drink giant “will help build the infrastructure for an international consortium of scientists and representatives from a variety of sectors dedicated to battling obesity,” Hill said.

The nonprofit group’s research and educational efforts are independent of Coca-Cola, Hill said.

“Industry collaboration with higher education is a common practice today, and the University of Colorado has policies and procedures in place that adhere to high standards of professional and ethical conduct,” he said.

Obesity research has been among the most controversial areas for corporate sponsorships or partnerships because of its impact on hundreds of billions of dollars of food and beverage sales annually.

Coca-Cola isn’t the only big sugar company to donate money for nutrition science.

Its competitors PepsiCo, Nestle and other brand names are also big players, and their assistance likewise has drawn some criticism.

Yale University officials came under fire in 2010 after they accepted $250,000 from PepsiCo for a post-doc fellowship in obesity studies at the medical school. Yale alumna Michele Simon, a public health attorney, told the Yale Daily News that PepsiCo’s gift was disingenuous: “The profit drivers of their portfolio include Pepsi, Gatorade and a whole litany of unhealthy beverages,” she said. “They own Cheetos, for God’s sake.”

In the case of the Global Energy Balance Network, scientist Steven N. Blair said in a video: “Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, ‘Oh they’re eating too much, eating too much, eating too much’ — blaming fast food, sugary drinks and so on. And there’s really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.”

The video ignores recent studies like the one published in the journal Circulation in June linking the consumption of sugary drinks to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year, including more than 25,000 Americans.