Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, UPenn PRC Director, Co-Principal Investigator on The Healthy Weigh Study and Principal Investigator on The Skin Cancer Communication Project, spoke with Dan Loney on Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton Business Radio program, about the new US government dietary guidelines. Glanz noted how the sugar and meat industries hold a heavy influence on the government’s new dietary guidelines.
“The 2015 guidelines] are without question the result of a process that combines science, business, lobbying, and special interests,” Glanz said. One of the food categories vigorously represented by lobbyists in Washington, D.C., is sugar. Although the new guidelines recommend cutting down on sugar, they do not call out the well-documented need for Americans to reduce their consumption of sugary beverages. “Undoubtedly,” Glanz told Loney, “that reflects some industry influence.”
This influence comes from the sugar industry’s $20 billion annual impact on the national economy: a significant sum, but one that pales in comparison to the $44 billion annual impact of the beef industry. Although the new guidelines may be confusing for some, Glanz says those who work in the field of nutrition recognize what the government guidelines carefully omitted or included.
The link to Dr. Glanz’s interview will be posted here when it becomes available from the Best of Knowledge@Wharton.
