FWIW: Apparently “Exercise is Medicine” could be funded by... Coca-Cola?

Of all the confusing places to find this information, I found it on another exercise -is-medicine industry, CrossFit. (though they want to add diet to exercise, but still are excluding/ignoring actual medications, the need for continuing medical research, and public health efforts like housing initiatives and the need to address food deserts and poverty)

https://keepfitnesslegal.crossfit.com/2016/04/05/cokes-partnership-with-the-cdc-and-nih-foundations/

“Before we examine the implications for nutritional research, let’s take a look at the CDC and NIH. In 1946, the Communicable Diseases Center was founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC developed out of a World War 2 Malaria control program, and from the outset, opaque Coca-Cola funding was crucial.

“In 1947, Coca-Cola President Robert Woodruff’s anonymous gift permitted the CDC to buy 15 acres from Emory University to build a headquarters. Coca-Cola reports,

“‘Mr. Woodruff worked behind the scenes … There was rarely a paper trail or a smoking gun behind his good deeds.’

“To this day, CDC’s HQ remains on the land Coca-Cola’s President purchased. And Coca-Cola has faithfully continued Woodruff’s donation style.

...

CDC official Michael Pratt. Pratt is “Senior Advisor for Global Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Coca-Cola has funded Pratt’s public health department at Emory University, where he is an assistant professor, with over $2 million.

Pratt is on the Exercise is Medicine advisory board. He often offers lectures with his colleague at Emory and the CDC, Felipe Lobelo, on Exercise is Medicine. EIM chair Robert Sallis, whom Coke directly funds, described Pratt and the CDC itself as some of his “key collaborators.” And Pratt called the CDC a “partner” of Exercise is Medicine.

In 2010, the International Life Science Institute invited Pratt to Singapore to discuss “Exercise is Medicine” (the link was originally available on ILSI’s website but ILSI has since deleted it). ILSI is a well-known Coca-Cola/food industry front group. Who paid for the CDC official’s travel and speaking expenses?

The Coke-ACSM-CDC relationship is not an accident. ACSM notes meeting with NIH and CDC officials as key parts of its lobbying agenda. And the CDC, in turn, does appear to promote Coke-ACSM ideas such as Exercise is Medicine and dangerous, debunked hydration guidelines. [from elsewhere in the article, promoting sports drinks with insufficient sodium] The CDC Diabetes Twitter account has never tweeted about reducing sugar consumption, but it has emphasized the role of physical activity in controlling glucose levels. This means the CDC’s messaging on diabetes has fallen perfectly in line with Coke/ACSM talking points: addressing physical activity at the expense of nutrition.”

 

It’s fine for industry to fund research, but there shouldn’t be an appearance (or truth behind any appearance or obfuscation) that industry is influencing the findings or messaging.

Probably best to form a separate charitable foundation with no lobbying goals other than promoting charitable causes.

 

When you control the narrative you can divide and conquer in order to maintain your profits stealthily.
Oil companies do the same today when they advocate for fighting climate change, they want to slow, stall, control the market so they can keep the money coming in. If they can only slow down the transition they make billions extra, if they can stop it they maintain perpetual profits at our expense.