Health experts: Coca-Cola funds scientists with misleading message

Jessica Durando | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Coca-Cola funds scientists to shift obesity blame Sugary drinks are not to blame for contributing to America's obesity epidemic, according to a recent study conducted by a nonprofit organization funded by Coca-Cola.







Sugary drinks are not to blame for contributing to America's obesity epidemic. At least, that’s what Coca-Cola is saying with recent research that some health experts have called misleading.

Coca-Cola has funneled millions of dollars to support a nonprofit organization that alleges that Americans should focus more on exercise for weight loss than diet,The New York Times reports.

Last year, Coke donated $1.5 million to start Global Energy Balance Network, according to the Times. Coke, struggling with a decrease in soda sales, has also given nearly $4 million in support of other projects.

"Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, 'Oh they're eating too much, eating too much, eating too much'-- blaming fast food, sugary drinks and so on," the nonprofit's vice president and scientist Steven N. Blair said in a video. "And there's really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause."

But health experts have said the research is deceptive.

"Coca-Cola's agenda here is very clear: Get these researchers to confuse the science and deflect attention from dietary intake," Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said in an interview with the Times.

Barry M. Popkin, a professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill agreed, likening Coke's support of these researchers to strategies used by the tobacco companies.