Conflicts of interest for members of the US 2020 dietary guidelines advisory committee.

Objectives To measure incidence of conflicts of interest (COI) with food and pharmaceutical industry actors on the advisory committee for the 2020-2025 US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and assess the adequacy of current mechanisms to disclose and manage COI among the committee's members. Design We compiled longitudinal data from archival sources on connections between members of the DGA's advisory committee and actors. We hypothesised that these committee members, who oversee the science for the most influential dietary policy in the USA, might have significant COI that would be relevant to their decision making. Disclosure of COI on this committee was recommended in 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences in order to increase transparency and manage bias, but public disclosure of the committee's COI does not appear to have taken place. Setting The committee was composed of twenty experts. Participants None. Results Our analysis found that 95 % of the committee members had COI with the food and/or pharmaceutical industries and that particular actors, including Kellogg, Abbott, Kraft, Mead Johnson, General Mills, Dannon and the International Life Sciences, had connections with multiple members. Research funding and membership of an advisory/executive board jointly accounted for more than 60 % of the total number of COI documented. Conclusions Trustworthy dietary guidelines result from a transparent, objective and science-based, process. Our analysis has shown that the significant and widespread COI on the committee prevent the DGA from achieving the recommended standard for transparency without mechanisms in place to make this information publicly available

Corporations and Health: The Need to Combine Forces to Improve Population Health

The recent concerns raised about commercial determinants of health (CDoH) are not new. Numerous organizations around the world are working on these issues. These groups have emerged in response to specific issues and contexts and bring with them a diversity of interests, worldviews and strategies for change. In creating the 'Governance, Ethics and Conflicts of Interest in Public Health' network in 2018, our hope was to broaden our engagement with other actors advocating for change and strengthen our collective efforts. For academics, this requires moving further beyond the collective comfort zone of peer-reviewed publications, working with the media and those with political expertise, and learning from and supporting other stakeholders with a common vision. [Abstract copyright: © 2022 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Help or Hindrance? The Alcohol Industry and Alcohol Control in Portugal

The influence of the alcohol industry, also known as “corporate political activity” (CPA), is documented as one of the main barriers in implementing effective alcohol control policies. In Portugal, despite an alcohol consumption above the European average, alcohol control does not feature in the current National Health Plan. The present research aimed to identify and describe the CPA of the alcohol industry in Portugal. Publicly-available data published between January 2018 and April 2019 was extracted from the main websites and social media accounts of alcohol industry trade associations, charities funded by the industry, government, and media. A “Policy Dystopia” framework, used to describe the CPA strategies of the tobacco industry, was adapted and used to perform a qualitative thematic analysis. Both instrumental and discursive strategies were found. The industry works in partnership with health authorities, belonging to the national task force responsible for planning alcohol control policies. Additionally, it emphasizes the role alcohol plays in Portuguese culture as a way to disregard evidence on control policies from other countries. This paper presents the first description of CPA by the alcohol industry in Portugal and provides evidence for the adoption of stricter control policies in the country

Activités politiques corporatives de l’industrie bioalimentaire pendant la révision du guide alimentaire canadien par Santé Canada

IntroductionNous avons analysé les activités politiques corporatives de l’industrie bioalimentaire pendant le processus de révision du guide alimentaire canadien entre 2016 et 2019. MéthodologieNous avons entrepris une analyse du contenu du site Web de 11 organisations de l’industrie bioalimentaire et des mémoires que 10 d’entre elles ont présentés au Comité permanent de la santé de la Chambre des communes du Canada dans le cadre de la révision du guide alimentaire canadien par le Comité. Les données ont été classées selon un cadre conceptuel préexistant. RésultatsNous avons relevé 366 exemples d’activités politiques utilisées par des organisations de l’industrie bioalimentaire pendant et immédiatement après l’élaboration du guide alimentaire canadien. La plupart des acteurs de l’industrie se sont opposés aux recommandations du guide. Les stratégies les plus utilisées étaient la gestion de l’information (n = 197), pour créer et diffuser de l’information en faveur des positions de l’industrie, et des stratégies discursives (n = 108), pour défendre certains produits alimentaires et promouvoir la position de l’industrie à l’égard du guide alimentaire. Parmi les autres stratégies couramment employées, citons les activités visant à influencer les politiques publiques (n = 40), en obtenant un accès indirect aux décideurs (par exemple par le lobbying) et en participant activement au processus décisionnel du gouvernement, et les activités de gestion de coalition (n = 21), qui consistaient à établir des relations avec des leaders d’opinion et des organisations oeuvrant dans le domaine de la santé. ConclusionLes acteurs de l’industrie bioalimentaire ont utilisé de nombreuses stratégies pour mener des activités politiques corporatives pendant la révision du guide alimentaire canadien. Il est important de continuer à documenter les activités politiques menées par les organisations de l’industrie bioalimentaire pour comprendre si et comment elles façonnent l’élaboration des politiques publiques au Canada et ailleurs

The bio-food industry’s corporate political activity during Health Canada’s revision of Canada’s food guide

IntroductionWe analyzed the bio-food industry’s corporate political activity (CPA) during the revisions of Canada’s food guide between 2016 and 2019. MethodsWe undertook a content analysis of the websites of 11 bio-food industry organizations and of the briefs that 10 of them submitted to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, as part of this Committee’s review of the food guide. Data were classified according to an existing conceptual framework. ResultsWe identified 366 examples of CPA used by the bio-food industry during and immediately after the development of the food guide. Most of the industry actors opposed the guide’s recommendations. The most common CPA strategies were information management (n = 197), used to create and disseminate information in industry’s favour, and discursive strategies (n = 108), used to defend food products and promote the industry’s position regarding the food guide. Influencing public policy (n = 40), by gaining indirect access to policy makers (e.g. through lobbying) and becoming active in government decision-making, as well as coalition management (n = 21), by establishing relationships with opinion leaders and health organizations, were also common strategies. ConclusionBio-food industry actors used many different CPA strategies during the revisions of the food guide. It is important to continue to document the bio-food industry’s CPA to understand whether and how this is shaping public policy development in Canada and elsewhere

#Bartender: portrayals of popular alcohol influencer’s videos on TikTok©

International audienceBackground - Despite widespread use of the short-video social media platform TikTok © , limited research investigates how alcohol is portrayed on the platform. Previous research suggests that a driver of alcohol content on TikTok © , in part, comes from bartenders demonstrating how to make drinks. This study aims to explore the characterizing patterns of how bartender influencers on TikTok © feature and incorporate alcohol in their videos. Methods - We identified the global top 15 most followed bartenders on TikTok © in 2021 (cumulative 29.7 million subscribers) and the videos they posted in November and December 2021, the period just before Christmas and New Year, when alcohol tends to be more marketed than in other periods. The videos were coded based on five criteria: (1) the presence of alcohol or not; (2) alcohol categories; (3); alcohol brand(s) if visible; (4) the presence of candies and other sweet products; (5) presence of cues that refer to young people’s interests. Results - In total, we identified 345 videos, which received 270,325,600 views in total, with an average of 18,021,707 views per video. Among these 345 videos, 92% (n = 317) displayed alcohol in their cocktail recipes (249,275,600 views, with an average of 786,358 views). The most common types of alcohol present in videos were liquor, vodka, rum, and whiskey, all of which are high-ABV beverages. 73% (n = 230) displayed or mentioned an alcohol brand. 17% (n = 55) associated alcohol with sweet products such as different types of candy (53,957,900 views, with an average of 981,053 views per video). 13% (n = 43) contained cues appealing to young people (e.g., cartoons, characters) (15,763,300 views, with an average of 366,588 views per video). Conclusions - Our findings suggest a large presence of positively framed alcohol content posted by popular bartenders on TikTok © . As exposure to digital marketing is related to an increase in alcohol consumption, particularly among young people, regulations are needed to protect the public from alcohol-related harms

Breastfeeding, first-food systems and corporate power: a case study on the market and political practices of the transnational baby food industry in Brazil

Abstract Background The exploitative marketing of commercial milk formula (CMF) reduces breastfeeding, and harms child and maternal health globally. Yet forty years after the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (The Code) was adopted by WHO member states, many countries are still to fully implement its provisions into national law. Furthermore, despite The Code, worldwide CMF markets have markedly expanded. In this paper, we adopt Brazil as a case study to understand the power of the baby food industry’s marketing and corporate political activity, and how this influences the country’s ‘first-food system’ in ways that promote and sustain CMF consumption. Methods We used a case study design, drawing data from from documents and key informant interviews (N = 10). Results Breastfeeding rates plummeted in Brazil to a historic low in the 1970s. A resurgence in breastfeeding from the mid-1980s onwards reflected strengthening political commitment for a national policy framework and breastfeeding protection law, resulting in-turn, from collective actions by breastfeeding coalitions, advocates, and mothers. Yet more recently, improvements in breastfeeding have plateaued in Brazil, while the industry grew CMF sales in Brazil by 750% between 2006 and 20. As regulations tightened, the industry has more aggressively promoted CMF for older infants and young children, as well as specialised formulas. The baby food industry is empowered through association with powerful industry groups, and employs lobbyists with good access to policymakers. The industry has captured the pediatric profession in Brazil through its long-standing association with the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. Conclusion Brazil illustrates how the baby food industry uses marketing and political activity to promote and sustain CMF markets, to the detriment of breastfeeding. Our results demonstrate that this industry requires much greater scrutiny by regulators

The commercial determinants of health in Ireland: fueling an industrial epidemic at home and abroad

International audienceMore than half of deaths in Ireland are caused by four harmful commodities: tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels, and unhealthy foods (Table 1). Commercial actors, through mechanisms that make these commodities artificially cheap, hyper-convenient, and seductively attractive, are a key driver for ill-health. The cumulative effects of these commercial vectors have been described in a landmark Series on the Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) by the eminent medical journal The Lancet in 2023.1 Here, we reflect on the findings and recommendations from the Series in the context of Ireland