You already know that Americans have been growing fatter and more disease-riddled in recent decades. Some of that’s blamed on pesticides, preservatives, chemicals, and the food we eat. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics bills itself as the world’s largest group of registered dietitian nutritionists. But what if the things they teach and the advice they give is tainted by corporations that make unhealthy food?

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.” Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Gary Ruskin: There’s no question that over the last, say, 25 years there has been a kind of a slide into the corrupt swamps of taking money from the ultra-processed food industry. And we can see the effects of it in our, you know, in our waistlines and in the rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease across the country.

Gary Ruskin heads the watchdog group U.S. Right to Know. Its five-year investigation looked into tens of thousands of pages of internal documents from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and its website eatright.org.

Ruskin: What we found was that the academy, accepted about $15 million from companies and organizations, from multi-processed food companies, from pharmaceutical companies, from agribusiness companies.

Ruskin says top contributors to the dieticians’ group included National Dairy Council, Conagra — maker of a lot of popular processed food — Abbott Nutrition and Laboratories, which make baby formula and products for people with diabetes and heart disease, Pepsi, Coke, Hershey, General Mills, Kellogg, the National Confectioners Association, which represents the candy industry, and pesticide manufacturer Bayer Crop Science.

Sharyl: When they accept money from an industry like that, is the theory or allegation that they’re then taking action to protect the industry, or just simply taking no action to go after that industry as a nutrition threat?

Ruskin: There’s some of both of that. It’s, a lot of it is kind of sin of omission sort of thing. For example, when you look at what the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says about ultra-processed food, what they don’t say is, “Don’t eat added sugars and don’t eat junk food and don’t eat candy.” And so that’s exactly what the ultra-processed food companies want them to say, to stay away from the don’ts.

Sharyl: How did this group get its prominence as a nutrition group that certifies people and holds this kind of sway?

Ruskin: Because they are so useful to these industries, they are promoted by the industries in some ways, and so it’s kind of of like a symbiotic relationship. It’s good for everyone.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says the U.S. Right to Know report is inaccurate and misleading, and denies that its corporate funding influences policies. “The Academy has stringent guidelines and principles that prohibit external influencedoes not endorse any company, brand or company productsmaintains final editorial control and approval of all content in materialsand there is clear separation of Academy messages and content from brand information or promotion.”

Sharyl: What do you think could or should be done about an alleged conflict of interest like this?

Ruskin: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has got to go clean and stop taking the corrupt money from the ultra-processed food industry. But people have got to demand it and say, “Look, we’re not, we’re just not gonna listen to dieticians anymore until they’re honest.”

Sharyl: What is it you think the public should know in the big picture?

Ruskin: The big picture is that our nation’s dietician organization is not trustworthy for information, and that people need to find better sources of information, sources that do not have conflicts of interest.

Sharyl (on-camera): Many studies blame ultra-processed foods in part for skyrocketing heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and dementia. A new report in the Washington Post says registered dieticians are being paid to post videos promoting diet soda and sugar on Instagram and TikTok.

Watch video here.

The Lemonade Mermaid Store

Unique gifts for Land or Sea Mermaids, Mer-pets and Little Mermaids!

Left: Pastel Beach Necklace $16

SHOP NOW