Gareth Iacobucci The BMJ

A powerful, industry funded group is playing an “outsized role” in steering the development of new US dietary guidelines and must have its influence curbed to protect public health, a pressure group has urged.

In a report published this week to coincide with Coca-Cola’s annual meeting of shareholders,1 the campaign group Corporate Accountability noted that over half of people appointed to the US 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee had ties to the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), whose funders include Coke and other global corporations.

ILSI was set up by a Coca-Cola executive 40 years ago in the US and operates throughout the world. It is a not-for-profit organisation and …