Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Coca-Cola's funding of health research and partnerships

2015; Volume: 386; Issue: 10001 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(15)00397-9

0099-5355

The Lancet,

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

In a bid to increase transparency, Coca-Cola has disclosed spending US$118·6 million in the past 5 years on scientific research and health and wellbeing partnerships. In a list of organisations funded by Coca-Cola, published on Sept 22, they reveal several influential medical organisations that have received funding, including the American Cancer Society, which received roughly $2 million, the American College of Cardiology, which received roughly $3·1 million, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as detailed in an article published on Sept 22 in The New York Times.Coca-Cola has previously given an unrestricted gift to the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), which promotes the energy balance model as a framework to prevent obesity. The energy balance model states that weight gain is caused by an imbalance between the amount of calories in and out. GEBN further mention that “not many people can sustain energy balance at a low level of physical activity (maintaining a sedentary lifestyle and eating fewer calories)”.The prevalence of obesity is high, with roughly 600 million adults worldwide classified as obese in 2014 and cases of type 2 diabetes are expected to increase in the next decade. With the substantial burden of these diseases, medical organisations and health researchers are exposing themselves to potential conflicts of interest by accepting funding from food and beverage manufacturers because of the known role of regular consumption of sugary, energy-dense beverages in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, stated that the financial support of these institutions was made with the best intentions to “support solutions to the public health issues facing people across the United States and around the world”. But, ultimately, the goals of Coca-Cola and those of medical organisations and health researchers that wish to improve public health are very different. Moreover, medical health professionals must guard against any possible conflict or perceived conflict when working towards the overarching goal of improving public health and preventing non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. In a bid to increase transparency, Coca-Cola has disclosed spending US$118·6 million in the past 5 years on scientific research and health and wellbeing partnerships. In a list of organisations funded by Coca-Cola, published on Sept 22, they reveal several influential medical organisations that have received funding, including the American Cancer Society, which received roughly $2 million, the American College of Cardiology, which received roughly $3·1 million, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as detailed in an article published on Sept 22 in The New York Times. Coca-Cola has previously given an unrestricted gift to the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), which promotes the energy balance model as a framework to prevent obesity. The energy balance model states that weight gain is caused by an imbalance between the amount of calories in and out. GEBN further mention that “not many people can sustain energy balance at a low level of physical activity (maintaining a sedentary lifestyle and eating fewer calories)”. The prevalence of obesity is high, with roughly 600 million adults worldwide classified as obese in 2014 and cases of type 2 diabetes are expected to increase in the next decade. With the substantial burden of these diseases, medical organisations and health researchers are exposing themselves to potential conflicts of interest by accepting funding from food and beverage manufacturers because of the known role of regular consumption of sugary, energy-dense beverages in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, stated that the financial support of these institutions was made with the best intentions to “support solutions to the public health issues facing people across the United States and around the world”. But, ultimately, the goals of Coca-Cola and those of medical organisations and health researchers that wish to improve public health are very different. Moreover, medical health professionals must guard against any possible conflict or perceived conflict when working towards the overarching goal of improving public health and preventing non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Understanding death, extending lifeOne of the biggest contributors to preventable deaths isn't a health problem but a record-keeping problem—and it is one that can be solved. According to WHO, nearly two-thirds of all deaths—38 million each year—go unreported.1 Millions more deaths lack a documented cause. Many countries do not have complete birth records, while others lack reliable data about risk factors associated with poor health and non-communicable diseases—for instance, rates of tobacco use or access to nutritious food. Full-Text PDF Coca-Cola's multifaceted threat to global public healthThe Lancet Editorial (Oct 3, p 1312) correctly identified that Coca-Cola's goals differ greatly from those of the public health and research institutions that it funds.1 All organisations concerned with public interest need to guard against conflict of interest from Coca-Cola's vast marketing campaigns to safeguard public health. One such marketing campaign involves advertisements at public schools in Uganda (figure), which illustrates Coca-Cola's predatory use of corporate funding, in the name of “corporate social responsibility”, to target children in a setting of inadequate public funding for education. Full-Text PDF