Influence of corporate money on study of nutrition questioned

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Influence of corporate money on study of nutrition questioned

Tue. November 25, 2008; Posted: 03:48 AM

Nov 25, 2008 (The Philadelphia Inquirer - McClatchy-Tribune Information

Services via COMTEX)

When Forbes.com wrote last winter about the proper diet for preventing

colds and the flu, the article included an age-old bit of advice from

nutritionist, author and former TV host Hark:

Drink orange juice.

While vitamin C's value as a cold-fighter is unclear, Hark, who works at

the University of Pennsylvania, said a regular glass of 100 percent OJ

helps her immune system.

One thing Hark failed to mention: She was being paid by the Florida

orange industry to promote the health benefits of its product -- in a

six-month contract for $24,800.

The seductive influence of corporate money on academia has attracted

lots of attention when it comes to drug companies. Less well known are

the close ties that often exist between nutritionists and the food

industry. While the dietitian may have the best of intentions, some

leading members of the field say industry funds can skew the credibility

of science -- and in the worst cases, result in little more than paid

product endorsements.

In a telephone interview, Hark said it was " ridiculous " to suggest that

the money would color what she said. Hark defended her work for industry

clients, which have included dairy producers and Tyson Foods, saying it

was common practice.

She may be right about that. Consider:

The incoming president of the Obesity Society, a prominent academic

research group, was a paid consultant for the New York state restaurant

industry as it fought a proposal to list calories on menu boards. Amid

fierce criticism, B. stepped aside in February before

taking the job.

Last month, the federal government announced a new 13-member panel to

review dietary guidelines for all Americans. Six of the 13 have received

funding from the food or pharmaceutical industries, according to the

nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The American Dietetic Association, the largest organization of nutrition

professionals, has accepted millions of dollars from the food industry

to support research and outreach.

Hark, who helped create the nutrition education program at Penn's

medical school, courts corporate clients on her Web site, which begins

with the words: " Are you looking for a media expert to help promote and

market your company? "

Until recently, Hark's site also featured Penn's logo -- unbeknownst to

medical school officials.

When The Inquirer asked about the site earlier this year, Penn

Medicine's chief of staff labeled it " unbelievably

shocking " because the logo was alongside Hark's sales pitch.

At Penn's request, Hark removed all references and links to the school.

" You can't have anything on the Web that can be construed as an

endorsement or any commercial use of the university's name, " said.

The Penn executive also took issue with how Hark was identifying

herself. On her Web site, in numerous media appearances and in a 2007

Penn news release, Hark is described as director of the school's

Nutrition Education and Prevention Program.

said Hark should no longer use that title because the nutrition

program ceased being a separate entity several years ago. Hark works

part-time in an administrative capacity, developing teaching materials

on nutrition in minority populations, said, adding that the

title in the news release was a mistake.

Hark is moving to a job at Wills Eye Institute in January to develop

educational materials for doctors. The switch is not related to the Web

site or corporate funds, said.

After the initial phone interview, Hark did not respond to subsequent

requests for comment about her title and changes to her Web site.

The former host of Honey, We're Killing the Kids, a weight-loss reality

TV show, Hark helped create Penn's nutrition education program in the

early 1990s -- a topic that had long received short shrift in the

nation's medical schools -- and she has received national recognition

for it. She edited a widely used nutrition textbook and she won a 2005

award for excellence in nutrition education from the American Society

for Nutrition.

Thanks to Hark's work, Penn " is right up there with a small number of

other schools that are really active, " said University of North Carolina

professor Kohlmeier, who studies nutrition programs.

She has been widely quoted in magazines and newspapers, including The

Inquirer, giving sensible advice on weight loss and nutrition.

But in several instances where Hark was paid, some experts quibbled with

her statements.

Orange juice, for example, does contain important nutrients, but so do

other fruits and vegetables. It also has lots of sugars, and there is

scant evidence to support its reputation as a cold-fighter.

" There's nothing special about orange juice, other than the fact that it

has a huge industry behind it, " said n Nestle, professor of

nutrition and food studies and public health at New York University.

" The fact that she's paid for it changes the equation, " added Nestle,

who said she does not accept any funds directly from food companies.

Hark's $24,800 fee was for work she did from September of last year

through February, said Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Florida

Department of Citrus, a state agency funded by the industry. Hark did

media relations on the benefits of OJ, Mathis said.

" It was a great campaign for us, " Mathis said. " She was able to generate

more than 132 million media impressions, " meaning the number of times

consumers were reached by various media.

In the one brief interview she gave in July, Hark said she was not then

working for any company, and that she had nothing to hide about such

efforts. Asked to identify various companies she had worked for, she

declined.

" I do not feel comfortable getting into this whole negative thing that

you're trying to do, " Hark said.

Her Web site now bills her as a " Best-Selling Author, " replacing the

words " Medical Nutrition Educator. "

The site still contains the following words:

" Do you want to add credibility to your brand, consult with a nutrition

expert, hire a spokesperson, or develop an Advisory Board? Dr. Hark

has the academic background and media experience to help your company

successfully reach both consumers and health professionals. "

She holds a masters from the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia

College of Physicians and Surgeons and a Ph.D. in education from Penn.

Hark also worked for one year as host of the reality weight-loss show on

TLC, in which parents were shown projections of how their overweight

children might look as grown-ups unless they changed their eating habits.

On one occasion, a company that hired Hark became ensnared in controversy.

When Tyson Foods began selling chicken last year that was touted as

being " raised without antibiotics, " it enlisted Hark to comment in a

news release.

" This is great news for American consumers who have made it clear they

pay attention to the use and presence of all sorts of antibiotics in the

environment, " the company quoted her as saying.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture later ordered the company to stop

using the " raised without " label after the company admitted it injects

eggs with antibiotics.

There is no indication that Hark knew anything about the use of the

antibiotics. She referred a question on the subject to a Tyson

spokesman, who confirmed that she had been hired by the company but

declined to comment further, citing litigation on the antibiotics.

Hark also was hired twice to speak about bone health: by the National

Dairy Council from September to December in 2006 and by McNeil

Nutritionals of Fort Washington, marketer of a calcium supplement called

Viactiv, in 2004.

A dairy council spokeswoman declined to say how much Hark was paid for

her work, in which she urged people to consume three servings of low-fat

dairy a day.

A McNeil spokeswoman said Hark was engaged for one event, but that she

didn't know the details because the organizers had left the company.

Like orange juice, NYU's Nestle said, dairy " can be part of a healthy

diet " but is not essential. There's no evidence that vegetarians have

poorer bone quality, she said.

As with funding from drug companies, financial support from the food

industry can have a corrosive effect, said D. Brownell, director

of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

" For professionals to take money and believe they remain unbiased is

contrary to both scientific evidence and common sense, " Brownell said.

" Otherwise, why would industry pay all that money? "

In a 2007 study in the online journal PLoS Medicine, researchers

reported that nutrition studies funded entirely by the beverage industry

were four to eight times more likely to reach a conclusion favorable to

the sponsor than those with no industry-related funding.

The efficacy of marketing also is acknowledged by the American Dietetic

Association. On its Web site, the group advises potential corporate

sponsors of the ability to " leverage benefits to achieve marketing

objectives. "

One option is to sponsor a " nutrition fact sheet " for $20,000. These

sheets are inserted in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association

-- " perforated for easy removal " -- so they can be used for patient

education.

One sheet touts the purported benefits of chewing gum, such as the

relief of " life's everyday stresses. " Its sponsor: the Wrigley Science

Institute.

An association spokeswoman directed a reporter to the group's

guidelines, which call for scientific accuracy and " clear separation of

ADA messages and content from brand information or promotion. "

" All of our positions are based on science, " said the spokeswoman, Doris

Acosta.

Yet elsewhere on its Web site, the group acknowledges that corporate

support can affect the opinions of those who attend its annual conference.

Of those corporations who buy " event sponsorships " -- $21,500 a pop for

this year's function in Chicago -- 62 percent of conference attendees

" said they would be more willing to purchase and/or recommend the

company's products or services. "

Contact staff writer Tom Avril at 215-854-2430 or tavril@....