The AND – Still Acting Like a PR Firm for Big Food

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) is the United States’ largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, and represents over 100,000 credentialed practitioners — registered dietitian nutritionists, dietetic technicians, and other dietetics professionals holding undergraduate and advanced degrees in nutrition and dietetics The organization’s members are primarily registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetic technicians, as well as many researchers, educators, students, nurses, physicians, pharmacists, clinical and community dietetics professionals, consultants and food service managers.

As I’ve stated in a previous article, I am against any acceptance of corporate sponsorship by the (AND). It’s at worst a conflict of interest and at best a perceived conflict of interest.

There is an organization called the Dietitians For Professional Integrity (DFPI) that’s been trying to get the AND leadership to listen to dietitians who are not happy with the AND sponsorship policies. I submitted this Statement of Concern to the DFPI back in 2014.

The concern I had in 2014 still exists in 2020.  The AND still receives corporate money from a variety of companies and industry trade groups.  The list below was taken directly from the AND web site.

• American Heart Association & Aramark
• BENEO Institute
• Big G Cereal
• California Strawberry Commission
• Campbell Soup Company
• Danone North America
• DayTwo
• Egg Nutrition Center
• Food Allergy Research & Education
• Gelesis
• GSK Consumer Healthcare
• LaCroix^® Sparkling Water
• L-Nutra
• MatrixCare
• Mead Johnson Nutrition
• National Honey Board
• Orgain
• PepsiCo
• Premier Protein
• Simple Mills
• SPLENDA^® Sweeteners
• Sunsweet Growers
• The Wonderful Company
• Abbot

Most of the sponsors listed above sell products that I do not promote as healthy dietary choices.  But my opinions of the sponsors are irrelevant to my stand against the AND receiving corporate sponsorship. I promote strawberries (California Strawberry Commission) and dried fruit (Sunsweet Growers) as healthy foods. However, I’m still against the AND accepting money from the strawberry industry and a dried fruit company.   

When the AND recommends raisins as a good substitute for candy, any reasonable consumer would wonder if this recommendation is influenced by raisin money.  It harms the credibility of the AND and its individual members.

Below is an excerpt of the Statement of Concern that I submitted to the DFPI. It’s still relevant today.

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Americans can perceive corporate and industry sponsors in one of two ways; both are bad. 

1. The sponsors can be perceived as sharing in the AND’s commitment to our nation’s health. This is laughably untrue. Therefore, anyone with this perception has successfully been deceived.

1. The sponsors can be perceived for what they are – a company or trade group that is using the AND to sell more products.  In essence, the AND functions as a public relations arm of the company or group.

No matter how loud the AND shouts that it is not a mouthpiece for industry, many Americans aren’t buying it. Count this RD as one of them.

Registered Dietitians must understand that when they work for food or pharmaceutical companies, or in the food industry, anything they say or write will be considered as suspicious by a certain percentage of the population.

I know an RD who once worked for a local supermarket.  She is extremely knowledgeable and she is a talented educator.   Unfortunately, I know many people who tell me that they will not ask the opinion of supermarket dietitians because they believe that the dietitian’s main objective is to promote the supermarket and the products it sells.

I believe that most supermarket dietitians wouldn’t promote unhealthy items to customers just because the store was heavily promoting those items.  But it doesn’t matter what I think.  The fact is, some folks automatically distrust supermarket dietitians simply because the dietitians work for a specific supermarket.

This type of distrust is similar to the distrust some people have of all dietitians due to the AND’s ties to corporate/industry sponsors.  It’s a losing proposition for dietitians because it hurts our reputation as objective practitioners.  It also hurts many sick Americans because they avoid the most knowledgeable nutrition professionals – registered dietitians.

Two recent reviews of Plant Based Italiano

From JF:

5.0 out of 5 stars – Wonderful Recipes that taste more complicated than they are

This is a fabulous cookbook-and though the recipes are extremely flavorful, they’re also quite simple to execute. I’m a WFPB chef and bought this for my daughter, who’s just beginning to venture into the kitchen on her own. She loves it!!!

From Monica:

5.0 out of 5 stars – This cookbook is fantastic

I love this cookbook and already used many of its recipes. It’s full of classics, but plant-based / vegan / healthier. I’ve adapted some of the recipes as well, it’s easy and practical to personalize it / make it your own (for those that love to experiment and are familiar with Italian cuisine). I highly recommend it. I like the stories about the recipes and people, as well as nice pictures of the different dishes too.

Stay Healthy and Strong!