10/14/2023
Nearly half of Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee have conflicts of interest
A report by the nonprofit public health research group U.S. Right to Know revealed that 9 of 20 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) members have definite ties with food, pharmaceutical, or weight-loss companies, with another 4 members having possible conflicts. Companies like Abbott, Novo Nordisk, National Dairy Council, Eli Lilly, and Weight Watchers had connections to multiple DGAC members. This is problematicāto say the least. As Upton Sinclair famously noted, āItās difficult to get a person to understand something when their salary is dependent upon them not understanding it.ā When DGAC members have direct ties to Big Food companies, they will (either consciously or unconsciously) be affected by the agenda of those companies. This is exactly what weāve seen in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which continue to demonize nutrient-dense, whole foods in favor of less nutritious alternatives that produce profits for the food industry. So, the next time you see a report from the DGAC, take it with a healthy grain of salt (pun intended)!
