[Villages PL]

Today's Daily Sun article (3-3-14) provides more information on how the food industry has been inserting itself, covertly, into food education. I knew about such things as supermarket chains hiring dietitions to spread the word that "there's no such thing as bad food", but it goes even deeper than that.

Now I just learned that food companies, like General Mills, have been providing continuing education for dietitians, which is a requirement for dietitions to maintain their licenses. It's a case of the fox guarding the hen house.

A dietition must earn 75 credits of continuing education every five years. Universities may charge hundreds of dollars, whereas the food companies provide this education for free. Plus the food companies hand out free cupons for their products which dietitions can pass on to their customers. Their goal is to put their products in a positive light, nutritonally.

There are in-person conferences and online classes which make it convenient and courses are taught by instructors with industry ties. Some have connections to the sugar industry, for example, or candy bar makers. One instructor suggested there should be no guidelines for sugar intake.

Among the many food companies teaching dietitions are such companies as Frito-Lay, Kellogg and Coca-Cola. Now we know why most dietitions will not say anything bad about any food. That's been my experience whenever I went to a lecture by a dietition. This education system, in my opinion, is largely corrupt. There has been a continuing effort by the snack-food fast-food industry to dumb-down the public and they have been doing it with the aid of dietitions.

So when you read an article in the newspaper, by a dietition, or doctor, it's highly likely that it has been influenced by the processed-food industry. Some of the information is good and some of it is bad. You just have to be careful. For one thing, they will never say anything bad about any processed food.

The article didn't speculate on this, but I wonder if the universities are any better. After all, they do get research grants from the food industry, don't they? And if they get grants, it's not likely they will say anything bad about any food. Folllow the money, as they say.