How the Coca-Cola Company Influences the CDC to Conceal Health Dangers of Refined Sugars

Questions and suspicions have been raised in recent years about apparent collusion by the CDC and the Coca-Cola corporation, which would allow the marketing of their soft drinks while suppressing information linking those soft drinks to health problems such as diabetes and obesity. These questions and suspicions were pursued by a study published in the Milbank Quarterly January 2019. Its title is Public Meets Private: Conversations Between Coca-Cola and the CDC. Public health agency collusion that potentially benefits a producer of harmful foods or beverages is no small issue. The “conversations” in the title of the study were emails the authors were able to obtain. The Milbank Quarterly researchers considered this study relevant due to recently reported episodes of top CDC officials entertaining relationships with Coca- Cola executives. The concern is that makers of unhealthy food products are having inappropriate influences on the CDC. For example, one of the reported episodes that motivated this study was: "In 2016, Barbara Bowman, director of the CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, resigned after emails between her and a former Coca-Cola executive were disclosed. [The emails] showed that Bowman had advised the former Coca-Cola and industry association executive on how to influence the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) to stop promoting taxes on sugar."

Coca-Cola’s Influence Over the CDC

More evidence suggests the CDC has been bought and paid for by Coca-Cola. We recently reported that a high-ranking official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had resigned after extensive ties to Coca-Cola were exposed. Dr. Barbara Bowman, director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, was helping Coca-Cola influence the World Health Organization, which had published new guidelines on sugar consumption that were unwelcome to the beverage industry. Now it appears that Coca-Cola has ties to another CDC official, Michael Pratt, senior advisor for Global Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Coca-Cola-funded Study: “Diet Coke Is Healthier than Water!”

“Diet Coke Is Healthier than Water!” This is according to a bizarre new Coca-Cola-funded study. A new obesity study led by Prof. Peter Rogers, PhD, of the University of Bristol, arrives at the following conclusion: “Overall, the balance of evidence indicates that use of [low-energy sweeteners] in place of sugar, in children and adults, leads to reduced [energy intake]and [body weight], and possibly also when compared with water.” Translation: diet soda is better for controlling your weight than water! Research not funded by beverage companies has found that artificial sweeteners contribute to diabetes and that diet sodas are linked to increased risk of stroke.

Coca-Cola Is Getting into the Milk Business

There is nothing natural about this milk. They’ve managed to increase its protein and calcium content by separating the milk into its five components (water, butterfat, protein, lactose, and vitamins and minerals), then removing the lactose altogether and recombining the rest in different proportions. More information about their process is unavailable since it falls under “proprietary” secrets. We wonder if sacrificing good fats, vitamins, and minerals are an appropriate price for increased protein and calcium content. Note that the calcium has been added without including important co-factors like vitamin K that move calcium into the bones and keep it from damaging the heart.

The “Coca-Colization” of Mexico, the Spark of Obesity

"The Coca-Colization of Mexico" is a fantastic piece of photojournalism that shows the very real public health effects of Big Soda's global outreach (what they like to call "emerging markets"). Mexico is the country that consumes more soft drinks per person in the world and Chiapas one of the places where not only the most is drunk but also where malnutrition and obesity prevail. Experts warn, with 70% of Mexicans overweight, 30% of them obese, and diabetes the primary cause of death, that the health system will collapse by 2020.