Hello, and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinevel.

Last week, Washington Post columnist Anaheim O'Connor published an article that has thrown

the food and nutrition industry into a bit of a tizzy. O'Connor was reporting on findings

that were published last week in the Public Health Nutrition Journal, revealing financial

records and internal emails from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, showing that

the organization had accepted donations and funding from lots of large food manufacturing

companies, like Coca-Cola and Kellogg's, as well as commodity groups representing dairy

farmers, beef farmers, and so on. O'Connor writes that, quote, con agra, which owns brands

like Slim Jim, Duncan Hines, Reddy Whip, and Chef Boyardee gave the Academy at least $1.4

million, end quote. But that's a very selective list of con agra's brands designed to land

a punch. Con agra also owns brands like Birds Eye Vegetables, Udi's gluten-free products,

Gardene, Plant-based proteins, and Earth Balance. But O'Connor's point is that this corporate

sponsorship is unseemly, given that the Academy, quote, helps shape national food policy and

trains thousands of dietitians who help people decide what to eat, end quote. As a member of

the Academy, I can tell you that its members are a very diverse group. They include prominent

researchers, student radicals, policy wonks, academics, government advisors, food scientists,

clinical dietitians, people who work in agriculture, schools, hospitals, food banks, restaurants,

grocery stores, media, and communication, and yes, people who work for companies that make processed

foods. I personally know only a couple hundred of the over 100,000 Academy members, but I literally

don't think I could come up with a single substantive statement about food and nutrition that every

single one of them would agree with. So, while Academy members may collectively wield a lot of

influence, they hardly speak with one voice. That influence is exerted in many different and often

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