Time for complete transparency about conflicts of interest in public health nutrition research

Hayes, Christine; Hennessy, Marita; Cullerton, Katherine; Baker, Phil; Brown, Amy; Crawley, Helen; Kearney, Patricia M.; Kelly, Colette; Mialon, Mélissa; Petticrew, Mark; Rundall, Patti; Trickey, Heather; White, Martin; Redsell, Sarah

doi:10.12688/hrbopenres.12894.2

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…Almost twenty years ago, Marion Nestle wrote "Sponsorship is so prevalent and so financially beneficial that hardly anyone can imagine that it might compromise research or opinion" (Nestle, 2001). This issue is now better documented and understood, and in the past ten years scholars from different disciplines related to public health and nutrition have urged institutions, governments, academic and intergovernmental organizations to avoid sponsorship or any financial relationship with health-harming industries such as tobacco, alcohol, agribusiness, arms, and ultra-processed foods (Stuckler and Nestle 2012;Hennessy et al 2019). Research has shown that sponsorship of academic conferences has long been a key strategy used by corporate actors with a vested interest in shaping a field of research and public discourse to their own advantage (i.e., away from the harms of particular products or to undermine public health responses) (Mailon et al 2021).…”

Section: Conflict Of Interest and Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflict of interest in nutrition conference financing: Moving towards solutions after IUNS 2022

Harris¹,

Carriedo²,

Freire³

et al. 2022

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Making contributions to reducing malnutrition entails sharing evidence and approaches among the research and practice communities, including through conferences. But who is involved in these processes, including who pays, matters both in terms of actions and optics. This paper was motivated by observations – in 2022 and historically – that the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), in putting on its flagship International Congress of Nutrition (ICN), was leaving itself – and, by extension, participating scientists – open to conflicts of interest (COI). With contemporary scholarship on the commercial determinants of health making clear the ways in which this kind of sponsorship represents both a conflict of interest for nutrition events and a negative force in broader food system drivers of nutrition, this paper aims to document the issues surrounding the 2022 IUNS-ICN conference as historical record; draw on academic literature on conflict of interest to better understand the issue; and suggest some practical options moving towards COI-free nutrition events in the future.

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Section: Conflict Of Interest and Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflict of interest in nutrition conference financing: Moving towards solutions after IUNS 2022

Harris¹,

Carriedo²,

Freire³

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The corporate influence on food charity and aid: The “Hunger Industrial Complex” and the death of welfare

Caraher

Furey

2022

Front. Public Health

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There is an existing literature on how food companies, including the unhealthy food commodity industries, influence policy through a number of approaches. Direct approaches include lobbying and funding of research. Backdoor or indirect tactics used by food companies to demonstrate engagement include funding community groups, tactics previously used by the tobacco industry. Food industry support for food charities engaged in food donations is an area that has not received attention. This is another backdoor approach and one which may compromise more general public health policy. It is no surprise that the companies that engage in this can be largely fall under the rubric of unhealthy food commodity industries. This link is sometimes referred to as the “hunger industrial complex” and is based on the argument that an alliance exists between the food industry and the food banking movement. With rising levels of food insecurity there is pressure on the food system to donate food to charitable enterprises such as food banks and soups kitchens, which is often encouraged by government policy such as “Good Samaritan legislation”. Food businesses contribute surplus food and often promote it as part of their corporate social responsibility agenda. The argument presented here is not an anti-food charity one but one which challenges the development of charitable food aid as a system and a replacement for public policy. The reasons for this can be summarized under three headings: (1) such donation systems compromise the wider application of public food welfare and give the impression that food poverty is being addressed; (2) the links with food corporations provide a backdoor for influence on wider food policies; and (3) researchers taking money from food charities may be compromised by the direct and indirect relationships with companies. The focus in this paper is on the latter two issues; the first will be established as a context with work we have published elsewhere. This article draws on examples from the UK of how charities have linked with chocolate and soft drink companies. Examples include: “For every Easter egg bought on the Cadbury Worldwide Hide, Cadbury will donate an Easter egg to a food bank in our network”; a Coca-Cola initiative in December 2021 “Win a meal, give a meal on-pack competition across Coca-Cola Original Taste and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar consumption packs, giving consumers the chance to win food-related vouchers, while donating to FareShare”; and an October 2021 initiative where “McDonald's joins forces with FareShare to fund 1 million meals for UK families”. These relationships go beyond companies donating surplus food to food charities such as food banks and pantries to encouraging consumers to buy their products with the promise that the company will contribute products to such charities or provide cash donations in return for the purchase of their product.

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Time for complete transparency about conflicts of interest in public health nutrition research

Cited by 2 publications

References 28 publications

Conflict of interest in nutrition conference financing: Moving towards solutions after IUNS 2022

Conflict of interest in nutrition conference financing: Moving towards solutions after IUNS 2022

The corporate influence on food charity and aid: The “Hunger Industrial Complex” and the death of welfare

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