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TechnoratiCoke to Bring You Advice About Health and Soft Drinks
Family doctors group loses members over Coke deal
The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy's consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org.
![[(Flickr photo by vwb5)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/cokecan.jpg "cokecan.jpg")
Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won't influence the group's public health messages, and that the company will have no control over editorial content. He said the new online information will include research linking soft drinks with obesity and will focus on sugar-free alternatives.
But critics say the Coke deal will water down the advice.
"Coca-Cola, like other sodas, causes enormous suffering and premature death by increasing the risks of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, gout, and cavities," Harvard University nutrition expert Dr. Walter Willett said in an e-mail.
He said the academy "should be a loud critic of these products and practices, but by signing with Coke their voice has almost surely been muzzled."
Dr. Henry Blackburn, a University of Minnesota public health specialist, said the deal "will inevitably have a chilling effect on the focus of their message in regards to sweet drinks."
Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said that kind of criticism "misses the point of the partnership which is to provide education based on sound science."
Dr. William Walker, public health officer for Contra Costa County near San Francisco, likened the alliance with ads decades ago in which physicians said mild cigarettes are safe,
Walker has been a member of the academy for 25 years but quit last week. He said 20 other doctors who work with his local medical practice also quit because of the Coke deal.
In an announcement last month, the academy, based in suburban Kansas City, Kan., said the new Coca-Cola-funded educational material will be posted online in January.
The idea is "to develop educational materials to help consumers make informed decisions so they can include the products they love in a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle," the academy's president-elect, Dr. Lori Heim, said at the time.
The American Academy of Pediatrics received similar criticism seven years ago when it allowed an infant formula maker's logo to appear on copies of that group's breast-feeding guide.
And the American Medical Association faced harsh reaction more than a decade ago with a plan to endorse Sunbeam appliances without testing them. Criticism forced the AMA to abandon that deal.
The Coke deal is not the only corporate alliance for the family physicians group. In 2005 it received funding from McDonalds for a fitness program. And its consumer Web site includes advertising for a variety of products, including deli meats and air freshener.
Henley said the Coke deal is worth six figures but he and a Coca-Cola spokeswoman declined to elaborate.
In a protest letter to Henley, 22 health specialists and activists questioned the safety of artificial sweeteners and urged the academy to abandon the deal and speak out against sugary drinks "in the strongest language."
Henley said the academy regrets the resignations and hopes other members will not "rush to judgment" before seeing the new content.
Coca-Cola is among several corporate contributors to the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, a separate philanthropic group. These contributors include many drug companies, McDonalds, PepsiCo and a beef industry group. Henley said the academy is in talks with other foundation contributors to fund other materials for the group, but he declined to say which ones.
40 Comments so far
Show AllThis article neglects to mention the damage that carbonated drinks cause to the lower eusophageal sphincter which is located just above the stomach and whose purpose is to inhibit regurgitation of the stomach acids. The carbonation weakens this valve and causes heartburn.
This information is the result of research done by a thoracic surgeon at the USC medical center and was published a couple of years ago in a medical journal. Sorry, but I don't have the exact reference. Naturally, the media never picked up on this publication. (Hmm, I wonder if the surgeon is still alive.)
The California Senate Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes had a hearing on the effects of sugar sweetened beverages on the rising rates obesity and diabetes.
They need to stop corporations from exploiting children's affection for cute characters and their trust in whatever adults tell them.
Sociopaths hiding behind their "fiduciary responsibility" to make the highest possible profit for their corporations have led to the degeneration of generations of kids and must be stopped. How low do student test scores need to get before the state Assembly protects children from these predatory adults, who are worse than any pedophile in the sheer numbers they harm?
As the Founding Fathers intended, corporations should only be established for a public good and be held accountable or else lose their charter. This won't be easy because of the corporate money sloshing around every state capital and Washington DC, but at a certain point evil shoots itself in the foot.
Besides lowering kids’ physical health, as a teacher I see the results of this attack on our children's brain chemistry so that they have less impulse control and poorer memories.
Also note that the artificial sweeteners (although not stevia) are worse because they are neurotoxins.
The many crises we face need smart, energetic, compassionate people but we are raising stupid slugs who don’t care because their brain chemistry is ruined.
To see how good food can correct the problems caused by junk food, see:
http://goodschoolfood.org/pdf/betterReportCard.pdf
A couple months ago, I heard a radio PSA with a physician saying sodium benzoate has absolutely no negative health potential.
Now I think I know why.
Hoping that coke cannot cause side effect to our body, because it is delicious!
Self Esteem Unlocked
Oh, I thought they were talking about the other coke, the white stuff. I was going to agree full-heartedly that things go better with coke.
Of course, there's also meth, and crack cocaine. And for the twinkie crowd, let's add some marijuana spokespeople.
We already allow the banks to regulate themselves, the military to police themselves, and the elected officials to pay themselves (with occasional help from the health care lobbyists). (I won't mention who's drinking the koolade).
It's all a party, and only some foreigners are dying in far away countries that aren't even christian for christ's sake.
The country that brought you coke, god, and slavery can't be all bad, cat it?
""Coca-Cola, like other sodas, causes enormous suffering and premature death by increasing the risks of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, gout, and cavities," Harvard University nutrition expert Dr. Walter Willett said in an e-mail."
"Dr. Henry Blackburn, a University of Minnesota public health specialist, said the deal "will inevitably have a chilling effect on the focus of their message in regards to sweet drinks."
Why stop at sweet drinks? Why not all sweet foods? Why even stop there? Why not other high calorie high glycaemic foods? Like oh, bread, rice?
Because it would require a radical rethinking of the traditional medical dogma on diet?
Like the Pentagon investigating the use of propaganda against the citizens of America.
To Coke, this connection with the Acadamy is first and foremost an advertising venture. They aren't doing this out of the goodness of their heart. The image of Coke is all that they are thinking about. The doctors will be used to make sure that coke's image is protected. This is preventive advertising for coke.
Hoa binh
I don't drink coca cola, or any kind of soda, and we don't have it in our house. My daughter went to a birthday party one day when she was 5, and when I asked her afterwards what she had to drink at the party, she said: "grape juice. But it went bad, and I had to spit it out." (It was coca cola.)
Moral: it's all conditioning. Don't give it to your kids, and they won't miss it. Don't think that it's fit to drink just because everybody else does it. It's not. The same applies to corporate pseudo-food.
I once saw a gifted middle school student rig up a device that used an electric motor to dip teeth (donated by a dentist) in various solutions.
It ran 24/7 and within a week even the sugar solution had done minimal damage compared to the one dipped continuously in Coke.
Excellent experiment! I don't often drink Coca-Cola, but I do occasionally succumb to a weakness for root beer...I try to keep the house running on juices, rather than colas, but some cola always creeps in around the foundation...hmmm...
Surprising no one used the word DIABETES, that is the global contribution of Coke. India used to be the number One consumer of Coke-soft drink, for a long time 10 years. NOW India has 50 million handi-caps. Not all are due to coke, however it is the largest contributor to diabetes,where 27% go blind and 30% lose limbs. Imagine half the population of Mexico- handi cap, or all of Canada having only 35 million people. So Coka Cola company is responsible for a great deal of our public health problems. There is nothing in coke that the body recognizes, poison is a kind word for Coke, shame on people making money from others ignorance. "Never give a sucker an even break", moto of coke. Thank you.
What is linked to type 2 diabetes? Coke or SUGAR? Outside of the US, most soda beverages use sugar, not high fructose corn syrup, as a sweetener.
To claim that there is nothing in coke that the body recognises is wrong. The body recognises SUGAR. High calorie, high glycaemic sweeteners such as sugar, or high fructose corn syrup are the causes of diabetes. Not soda.
Coke is poison. Isn't this what they mean by the fox guarding the henhouse???
You are absolutely right Coke is poison, Take a can of coke and put a nail in it and then look at it three days later and you will see that the nail is gone.
to many people believe that these corporations actually care about us
Not only is Coca-Cola poisoning us, they're trying to do it to many countries in the developing world, and taking over their water supplies while they're at it. The perfect example of good old American free enterprise. Let the buyer beware.
Ah, in a lot of countries, Coca Cola has a wickeder clamp than what they have in the States. Ay, pobre de Mexico, tan lejos de Dios, tan cerca a los Estados Unidos!
In villages where the truck brings soda and no water, sometimes they wash the kids' faces with the stuff when there's no pulque, splashing fingerfuls and wiping with a hem or whatever's handy and sending them off to school. You can imagine how long it takes the dust to stick.
I think I read somewhere that it takes 4 litres of water to make 1 litre of coke.
LOL
Dear Warren Buffett,
Have another cherry coke. The Coca Cola corporation says it's good for you so they must be telling the truth, right?
For once, I'm going to agree with you, Chomp. That's exactly the advice I gave to some tortured soul on another blog worrying that "SOCIALIST RADICALS ARE TAKING OVER OUR COUNTRY" (ALL CAPS!), because of proposed tax increase on soda. - If you don't want to pay the tax, don't buy soda. Simple as that.
I wish we could also have some other choices, like "if you don't want to fund the war, don't pay your income tax . . . " Or even better - designate where you want your income tax to go:
- healthcare - check
- defense budget - no deal
- green energy development - check
- . . .
The world would look a lot different . . .
this is truly the face of evil that man does to man.
tobacco soda fast food etc. money equals power.
and how much of towns water supply is wasted on soda
bottling? towns water supply dries up and they move on
to the next town. look at atlanta's drought last summer wonder
how much years of taking water out of the local supply
had to do with that. diet soda is made out of ge materials
who knows what can do to a person in the long run? soda
is almost as evil as smoking because it impacts entire
towns instead of just families. my sister is 48. drank
a 12pack of soda every day and a half. she now has diabetes
and drinks diet soda instead. there are no natural ingredients
in this at all. first thing she does when she gets up
in the morning is pop open a can and smoke a cigarette!
she will defend these companies with no scientific
knowledge to back up her ideas. it so so sad. she like
millions today are hard core consumers tv has a death vice grip
on them and the hardest mind to change is a closed one.
reality is the toughest place for these people to be!
they have to think for themselves then- something their
not capable of!
Hey - theres been a lot of noise about junk food served in schools and its potential removal.
CC makes decisions based on solid research science - the best that money can buy.
Within their research obviously there is no cognitive whatsit... oh yeah.. dissonance between the most powerful transnational purveyor of the most centrally de-nourishing type of beverage sold and the medical care profession.
oops - I guess its the doctors who should have been doing the research...
The AAFP and the AMA have long since abandoned their members and their charters in search of money and power. Membership has been in steady decline for a while.
The #1 benefit of being in these groups is the (Refferal Book). Basically, when you are at the hospital and you need a specialist or a second opinion, you get the info from these member books. Well, that benifit is replaced by local medical orgs. The other benefit was lobbying, but when the head office doesn't reflect the member's views (AMA is adamantly anti-single payer) then membership drops.
But whoring yourself like that does make you attractive to Corporations with Deep Pockets.
Here's the problem: sugar is bad, high-fructose corn syrup is bad, and so are all the artifical sugars. This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all this day.
Not all the artificial sugars are bad. Furthermore, stevia isn't in anyway artificial.
JaneM: I guess you did not hear about Rep. Grayson being cut off from reading the names of the people in GOP districts that have died from lack of health care!
JaneM, the day is still young.
"Our Government" That's rich!!
It's not our Government til we march in the street by the millions and take it back from the corporations.
The citizens must now save themselves. Government is only out to protect the corporations and the ruling elite.
When we realize it is all a shell game and they have and will continue to pick our pockets of everything the Constitution is written to defend against. Only then will we have the anger and the will to take this government and finally put it in the hands of the citizens.
Take your eyes of the shells and look around you.
It's like trusting your health to Healthcare insurance company!
It's like trusting a government to tell you the truth.
It's like trusting the corporate owned media to tell you the truth.
hahhahaha!!!
"Take two cokes and call me for the mourning"
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Let me give the best health advice possible. DO NOT DRINK COKE AND ALL THE REST OF THE SOFT DRINKS! They are full of sugar and bad for your health.
How gauche. Don't they know that commercial influence on medical advice has to be indirect and funded discreetly?
Joe
We'll be lucky if the AMA doesn't start pushing coke for the diabetes test drink or force us to take coke enemas for colon flushes.
Studies will soon appear, stating that coca-cola cures cancer, but only in conjunction with a swine flu shot and daily intake of GMO foods.
I already owe Coca-Cola more than I could ever possibly repay for their wonderful usurpation of the coloring of Santa's present-delivering suit, and their replacement of his nasty, animal-derived milk repast with their own, formerly-cocaine-containing-and-boy-did-that-shit-sell sugar water...
I believe Coca-Cola also covers the cost of the Cokes Santa hands to each polar bear he pulls from arctic waters that used to be frozen, but aren't anymore...pretty upstanding gesture, I'd say!
If only Coca-Cola were good in swimming pools, or on golf courses...
Seriously, though...love the guy that designed the Coke bottle...
You know, if you haven't seen the ads this must refer to, it's so weird it's educational.
I am reminded of how Phillip Morris used to supply lots of medical information (not just about smoking) to doctors as a public service. They figured that every doctor that they could hook on smoking would counter those pesky warnings that the government put on their cigarette packages.
After all, who are you going to believe? Those warning messages or your family doctor puffing away.
Gee, if there's one source of information I trust when it comes to my health, it's gotta be the Coca-Cola Company. I mean, it's like the whole H1N1 vaccine thing -- if you want to know how much there's going to be (and when), all you gotta do is ask the vaccine manufacturers. They know everything, and they would never lie to us.
My only concern is that I'd feel I could trust the Coca-Cola Company even more if they would just add some blue to their packaging color scheme. I mean -- red and white is pretty good, but they could be, like, Canadian or something with colors like that. And then I couldn't trust them to know about obesity, or health care, or anything.
Still, I'm glad to hear that the experts agree that there's nothing to see here. I'll be moving along now. It's dinner time, so I need to find a nearby McDonalds and ingest my recommended daily allowance of commercial grade hormone-enhanced confined animal feedlot product.