They call our statements “erroneous,” “ridiculous,” “untruths,” “falsehoods,” and “outright lies,” but each of our “wild accusations” are solidly documented!
Last week we ran an article about ReallyEatRight.org, a website designed to shine light on the American Dietetic Association’s partnership with the junk food and pharmaceutical industries and its attempts to monopolize nutrition services. In response, Dietitians in Nutrition Support (a dietetic practice group of the ADA) posted a counter-attack, which contained a letter signed by the president of the ADA, accusing us of presenting a “one sided and misleading portrayal of ADA” and of having “a hidden agenda.”
Our agenda is open and transparent. We want the ADA to stop fueling the obesity and diabetes epidemic through their associations with Coca-Cola (allowing Coke to create a program about “urban myths” about the safety of food ingredients, which concluded that fluoride, sugar, artificial colors, and non-nutritive sweeteners are perfectly fine for children), cereal manufacturers General Mills and Kellogg’s, candy maker Mars, and Unilever, the multinational corporation that owns many of the world’s consumer products brands in foods and beverages.
The chair of the ADA practice group, whose focus is on giving nutrition support to individuals in inpatient and outpatient settings, including home care and pediatrics, said, “ANH has criticized ADA in the past—and will likely do so in the future—for our alleged efforts to suppress ‘nutritionists’ from earning a living.” (Notice those condescending quotation marks around “nutritionists”?) Well, that’s the other part of our open and transparent agenda: We want the ADA to stop convincing state legislatures that only dietitians can dispense nutritional counseling at the state level.
Any state licensure scheme that embraces ADA certification standards exclusively is by definition monopolistic and eliminates competition in the field of nutrition. Please note also that ADA certification only requires a college degree while many of the nutritionists we are defending have masters’ degrees and PhDs in this field.
The group goes on to say that “ADA has made a decision not to reply to every wild accusation that is leveled against the Association,” and instead they reprint a letter that former ADA president Judith Rodriguez, PhD, RD, LDN, FADA, sent to ADA members earlier this year. Dr. Rodriguez writes, “We are an Association of professionals in a field based on science and evidence…. ADA will not be distracted by engaging in point-by-point rebuttals of disparaging untruths and insults every time they appear on the Internet.”
Fine. We’ll do the point-by-point instead:
- Allegation: The ADA receives payments from Coca-Cola, Hershey, the National Dairy Council, Mars, PepsiCo, and others. Is this a lie? No: ADA lists them as corporate sponsors.
- Allegation: The credentialing arm of the ADA, the Commission on Dietetic Registration, offers continuing professional courses sponsored by Coca-Cola. Is this a lie? No: The Beverage Institute for Health & Wellness, which created the “Urban Myths” program, is an arm of the Coca-Cola Company.
- Allegation: The ADA allowed the junk food company–sponsored “Smart Choices” food labeling program (now considered a failure and an embarrassment) to be introduced at their Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. Is this a lie? No: The New York Times reported on just how absurd the program was.
- Allegation: The ADA is under investigation by Congress. Is this a lie? No: Sen. Charles Grassley asked the ADA and other health advocacy groups for a listing of their payments from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and insurance industries. The senator’s investigation into the ADA’s financial transparency is ongoing.
- Allegation: The ADA receives about $1 million a year in payments from pharmaceutical companies. Is this a lie? No: Because of Sen. Grassley’s investigation, the ADA disclosed its payments from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and insurance industries.
- Allegation: The ADA allows pharmaceutical companies to market their controversial products at ADA events. Is this a lie? No: At the 2007 ADA Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, GlaxoSmithKline was allowed to promote their first over-the-counter diet pill, Alli, even though the drug’s weight loss effectiveness is minimal and side effects such as hard-to-control bowel movements and anal discharge are common. The FDA has since issued warnings to Alli, noting the possibly of severe liver damage, and consumer groups are asking the FDA to remove Alli from the market.
- Allegation: The ADA is trying to gain a monopoly over nutritional therapy practice in the US. Is this a lie? No: The ADA has sponsored legislation in over 40 states that lumps dietitians and nutritionists into one licensing bill and requires nutritionists to complete its own dietitian program in order to practice nutritional therapy. Even if the nutritionist holds a Masters or a PhD in Nutrition, he or she is still required to complete registration through ADA just to continue to practice. In some states, these well-qualified individuals are even prohibited from using the words “nutritionist” and “nutritional care.”
Through Dr. Rodriguez’s letter, the ADA is even trying to suppress dialogue, critique, and discussion among its own members: “Sometimes, unfortunately, the re-posting of falsehoods is conducted (unintentionally, I am certain) by ADA members; I encourage all members…not to believe all that you read, and to make sure the information that you circulate is accurate.”
By contrast, our campaign is all about encouraging dialogue and discussion—among our members, among ADA members, with the media, and with the general public—and we are providing responsible RDs with the platform and voice that the ADA is denying them.
The ADA is deliberately avoiding an open conversation because our statements are not “disparaging untruths,” as Dr. Rodriguez calls them, but unassailable facts. They do not rebut our points because they have no legitimate defense. We would point out, however, that it is the ADA’s unprofessional, junk-food-and-pharmaceutical-industry-driven, monopolistic behavior that has spurred our campaign in the first place.
These are serious issues affecting consumers and nutrition professionals alike. They have a direct impact on the health of Americans and the cost of healthcare. They should be talked about, not censored. If the ADA believes we are spreading “untruths,” we invite them to prove it. Otherwise they are indicting themselves.
Please join our efforts by signing our petition at ReallyEatRight.org. Tell the ADA leadership to return the payments they receive from junk food and pharmaceutical companies, and end their attempts stop attempts to monopolize nutritional therapy through underhanded statewide legislative efforts! (If you’re a Registered Dietitian, nutrition student, or ADA member, please sign this one instead!)
The ADA is totally ridiculous and needs to get with the program of real food or whole food nutrition. They are funded by Big Food and Big Agri and as a NGO are also funded by the government. Hospitals, prisons and school systems have RDs in place and that is the nutrition they teach. Look at the people coming out of these institutions. They are sick, obese and very unhealthy. There is much more nutrition that they need to learn besides the US Food Pyramid which hasn’t done a darn thing for the US population but make people sick and obese.
Unfortunately Jello gelatin is not gelatin. It’s sugar, water and chemicals. Knox Gelatin isn’t real gelatin either. The only gelatin that people should eat is bovine and made from organic, grass fed cows.
You’ve made the claim that certain brands of gelatin contain no gelatine but instead “chemicals.” Could you be more specific? Are we talking about the hydroxypropyl methylcellulose/mypromellose? Is it one of the following vegetable-derived substitutes: agar-agar, carrageenan, which has/had its own controversy, pectin, konjak, or Guar gum? Something laboratory-assembled but bioidentical to hydrolyzed collagen? Can you show that cows grow better collagen when grass-fed, or is it more important to feed them grass for other reasons?
Can you cite some sources? You may be correct, but the only thing I know for sure at this point is that I looked at a box of a few days ago, (granted, it’s been sitting on the shelf for months) and it definitely used the word “gelatin.” If that’s an allowed name for something else, I want to know.
I strongly encourage Sen. Grassley to complete his investigation into the ADA and make it public to our country immediately!
The ADA is the organization most responsible for the obest epidemic in the U.S. and should have to pay for the treatment of every diabetic in the country because if there is one organization to blame for this it is the ADA .
I invited the ADA to show me where I was wrong in my assessment of the science on saturated fat and cholesterol (you can read the paper I sent them on the Healthy Nation Coalition facebook page and I’ll be happy to send it to you if you are interested) and their response was, “Instead of reviewing and critiquing the studies to support ADA’s conclusion statement on dietary fat related components, she has set her own agenda, made up questions that she wanted to address and has presented a poor discussion with a hodge-podge of papers!” And, “…while it is noted that she wants to think outside of the realm of evidence, she shouldn’t lose sight of the importance of solid research (not poorly conducted studies).”
The ADA is not open to respectful discussion with anyone who disagrees.
A lot of us can see through the lies, so it just makes those who lie look bad. It’s unfortunate that a number of people don’t, though, and those that cannot will potentially suffer from long-term health problems.
The AMA, the FDA, the ADA, the Pediatric Association, the American Cancer Society – all cronyism at it’s worst. According to conventional medicine there is no cure for diabetes. Well guess what? There is a cure, diabetes can be cured in about 2 weeks on a raw food, plant based, whole food diet in ALL type II diabetes cases. Don’t believe me? Just watch the documentary: Simply Raw for 30 days: Reversing Diabetes.
Dr. Cousins runs the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona and has documented “curing” diabetes with a raw, whole food, plant based diet.
Diet has EVERYTHING to do with health and disease. Because our federal government has subsidized the junk food industry, the American public is now faced with a health care crisis.
Take dairy for example. The two countries with the highest dairy intake are the U.S. and Finland. Guess which two countries have the highest rate of osteoporisis? Yep, it’s the U.S. and Finland! Why does the US have the highest rate of osteoporois when Americans drink so much milk? After all, everyone knows that milk builds strong bones, it does the body good! WRONG!
Milk and dairy is very acid, when too much dairy is eaten, it increases the acids in the body and the body has to neutralize the acid by pulling Calcium out of the bones!
Too many food lobbies sit on so called government regulatory boards, who then set government standards for nutrition, but the game is rigged to benefit the food lobbies, not the public – which is standard operating procedure for Washington. Corruption is rampant, conflicts of interest are rampant, and the American public is the loser, once again.
The acidity of the milk is not the issue. It’s partly what’s done to the milk, the pasteurization process that destoys vitamins that is the major culprit. They put A and D back into the milk, but they leave out vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 actually causes calcium to stop sticking to the soft tissue like arteries and artierial placque, and stick to the teeth and bones. You can get more info about this from the Weston A. Price Foundation’s web page. Dr. Price was a dentist who traveled to various countries searching for the reason for the extraordinary health of native people in primative tribes. His research discovered an “X-Factor” which we’ve since discovered to be Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is different from the well-know Vitamin K, now renamed Vitamin K1, the blood clotting vitamin. Vitamin K2 is the ‘activator” for other fat-soluable vitamins. Without K2, the others don’t work efficiently. That’s the cause of osteoprosis.
I watched Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days. It gave me an insight to vegeterian diet that was different from what I have learnt through my books. I also watched Fork over Knives which have similar issues discussed. I recommend everyone to watch these movies.
I also avoided a life time of diabetic problems by eating raw foods and taking herbal supplements which by the way, is under attack by the government. I am wondering when the people in America are going to decide that the government is becoming oppressive and, as is provided by our constitution, over throw the whole money grubbing mess of government fat cats!
One day there will be an accounting.
You know the old saying that goes”people start to look like their dog”? What should we expect when the ADA is in bed with the junk food and pharmaceutical industries , hmmmm?
If it wasn’t designed by Nature, it is not worth eating, unless you want to become a chronic person with various sickness.
After having Colon cancer I went back to what nature has provided for us and am now a 15 year cancer survivor. Trying to get only organic food is very hard to do, when all our food is contaminated with a variety of chemical ingredients the industry claims are not dangerous to human health.
Our ancestors lived on only what Nature provided for thousands of years, and it must have worked for them, as we are proof they prospered from what they ate. The FDA, CDC USDA were created and designed to protect the public, but it seems they changed their position and have joined Corporate America, Follow the money, just as most of our elected officials have done.
This group is not much better than the F.D.A., the cancer and food cops.
Since this article mentioned obesity and diabetes and your organization promotes natural health, I wish to say something relevant. (Please google the words erika gebel, the science of exercise. On the first page of the article, you will see my name. Please click on it.)
Now, may I add the latest development on my experience with my type 2 diabetes. For more than 21 years, I have been eating only heart-healthy, natural, fresh (eaten raw or cooked) foods which are mostly carbohydrates. I claim that my only anti-diabetes medication is 90 minutes of daily exercise. Heart-healthy carbohydrates are not a part of my diabetes control method because they always give me high after-meal sugar readings 3x/day.
I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic in July 1991 based on a fasting sugar reading of 468 mg/dl. Not once have I ever had any hypoglycemic episode. Most of my past A1c’s were from 5.2% to 6.3%, the latest one in June 2011 was 5.6%. I don’t have diabetes complications yet. I am at present as healthy, strong, happy, as any 75-year-old man wants to be.
At the end of each day the bottom line is all that is of interest–HOW MUCH MONEY WAS OR IS BEING MADE. The state of the health of the nation is irrelevant as it is obvious in many instances that those who are part of the mighty SICKNESS INDUSTRY we have now are hell-bent on keeping people ill.
Return the payments you receive from junk food and pharmaceutical companies, and stop attempts to monopolize nutritional therapy through underhanded statewide legislative efforts!
Return the payments you receive from junk food and pharmaceutical companies. Stop attempts to monopolize nutritional therapy. Ray and Kathy Felch
The government sponsored dietician experts are defintely losing the publics confidence with their repeated attempts to censor and belittle science based nutritional experts. Please put the well being of the American public in the forefront over dollars and profitable alliances.
It is most unfortunate that the ADA is so much like other entrenched entities, beholden to special interests willing to defend old practices, such as the use of mercury in dental fillings, until it is blatantly obvious that such practices are finally, at best, indefensible. Arguing against obvious truths only reveals extreme bias!
I have read you work for the first time and I am impressed. I have been interested in using natural remedies as much as possible. Occasionally I have used some medicine but from a MD that I trust.
It is striking the number of times that a collusion of manufacturers and so called “Organizations for the Public Good” are caught with their ‘pants down in public view’ and continue to bluster that they are right. No regard to answering Questions. Just BLUSTER! Ignore the obvious. Just BLUSTER! The same as politicians. BLUSTER!
“Fluoride, sugar, artificial colors, and non-nutritive sweeteners are perfectly fine for children”
This is true if you want those children to have short disease ridden lives. Oh wait this implies an agenda. Sorry.
Incidentally these ingredients will indirectly and if we listen to our “health authorities” inexplicably, statically kill anyone who ingests them on a chronic basis. We have EXTENSIVE clinical evidence demonstrating this. We have “health authorities” who either are incredibility ill-informed about their profession or much, much worse.
How do we know much, much worse is the correct answer? Suppose you were the head of NIH. How hard would it be to set up extensive clinical trials testing vitamin D against the “Flu Shot” as a preventive against the seasonal flu. Well not hard at all. It was recently almost done in Japan. Results? 2000 IU of vitamin D in juveniles was found to be 780% more effective than the standard dose of the most efficacious anti-viral drug in preventing seasonal flu symptoms.
NIH, CDC, et al will NEVER run this simple clinical test. Why? Because they they already have run it many times informally and KNOW the worthless TOXIC, mercury drenched, “Seasonal Flu Shot” is TOTALLY ineffective at preventing or mitigating the symptoms of the seasonal flu. NIH, CDC, et al also KNOW simple sunshine and its vitamin D is the cure for the seasonal flu as well as MANY, MANY other much more serious health problems and diseases.
http://healthyprotocols.com/2_flu_shot.htm
We refuse to accept this ineluctable deduction at our EXTREME danger.
I know this country is in a mess nutritionally. Just take a good look at the food labels and you will know that besides the ADA, the AMA, the FDA, and the big Pharmaceuticals are all profiting by our slow demise. We know there is a lot of stuff added in just to make us sick and sicker and to give profit to all these above listed organizations. One of my daughters was shocked when she learned that a lot of additives are there just to get us to die off gradually, and of course like the quote from Dickens “to reduce the surplus population” is definitely an aim of these organizations besides profiting from all the “cures” they pretend to give us. Go natural whenever you can and if you can find things without chemicals etc. My garden produces the best crops when I use my straw and chicken manure and leave the chemicals alone. We also need supplements because the farm land that we have had has never been given back the elements taken from it in the last 200 years or more. Look at what the usual fertilizer is made of. It does not put back into the soil all the things that have been taken from it. Food now does not usually have the vitamins and minerals in it that it had just 50 years ago. Even the high fructose corn syrup wants to rename themselves as”corn sugar” simply so that it can still be used to blind us to the dangers of it, and of course trans fats are there even when they go by another name. MSG may still be there in the form of “spices” and other words that don’t sound too bad. My husband gets a little irritated at me for reading the food labels in the stores, but you need to know these things, and buy the things with the least ingredients in them, and hopefully the ingredients will be names you can understand!
I am a dietitian and member of the ADA. I appreciate this honest and enlightening report of the twisted sponsorships within the ADA and would like to know more ways to work within the ADA to promote positive change in the area of their unthinkable sponsorships and potential bias in providing nutrition information. I debate whether to voice my disapproval by resigning my membership, but this would also result in my inability to be involved in worth while efforts including the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition practice group. I am interested in feedback of ways to carry this light to expose and bring positive change within the ADA beyond signing the petition (which I just did).
Do not argue! Do a conditional aceptance instead! (Part of and Administrative Process) Conditions being that they answer your statements/questions. If they con’reply, then they agree with your postulates! Silence is acquiescense.
What do we have brewing here: Are we now going to have a funded, for profit, ADA cartel dictating what is good food for our bodies? Leave a McDonalds hamburger bun outside for a year then take a look at it. Real food, if it’s a bread, will mold and break down. Do you think their bun will? The birds might carry it off and think it’s real, but don’t kid yourself. These companies are putting things into our food so they have longer shelf life’s and thus more money in their pockets.
I am a Certified Registered Holistic Nutritionist/Certified Chinese Herbologist/Holistic Health Practitioner/Journalist/Seminars. 32 yrs professionally! I have been preaching to the choir that many years!!!Still fighting, and have sent this to many clients! Keep it up, we must continue to be aware of these unforgiveable atrocities!
Suma G Nathan
http://agingless4u.com
agingless4u2cox.net
This website posts the same tired gripes over and over again. I don’t even see the point of “reallyeatright.org.” There isn’t anything on it that isn’t already summed up in all of 1 article on this website. Stop the press! Coca Cola sponsor’s the ADA!! so WHAT? This fact does no force people to drink it! My God, we are free-willed human beings who make their own decisions. Just because Coke sponsor’s the ADA doesn’t mean I am going to go out and drink myself into a 300 lb diabetic mess because of it. And to address the “degree” issue: This has been stated time and again, and noone from the ANH position has been able to respond: If a med student has completed his med. school course work but has yet to actually physically practice on a patient, do you want him to operate on your mom? Why not? he’s got an advanced degree! Shouldn’t that count more than practicum experience? Exactly. I don’t care if you have a Post. Doc. in nutrition. You are still not QUALIFIED, and have not yet had the hands on EXPERIENCE to work with patients. It’s really very simple. There is a reason “nutritionists” don’t work in hospitals. It’s not because they choose not to, it’s because they cannot. Just as a mechanic is not allowed to have a day job as a registered nurse. The reason ADA has not responded to these claims is because their time is better spent actually focusing on research rather than bantering with these outrageous groups. If you spent as much time working toward your dietetics registration as you spend screaming about these wild theories than you would be able to to practice wherever you wanted by now, and not have to worry about our “monopolizing” of your field.
Ha! I agree. I am a certified nutrition support clinician (MPH, RD, MPH) working @ a trauma hospital in Loma Linda, CA. I can assure you that our pt’s are intubated, sedated, & under severe stress. These type of critical patients our solely what our team deals with on a daily basis. CNSC dietitians address these difficult pt’s by determining their GI losses from fistula/ ostomy outputs, lab data, wounds, urine outputs, & other clinical factors before we determine what form of nutrition we administer. There is a place for natural health education (certainly), but in a clinical setting with severe septic patients and large gaping wounds & a multitude of other trauma issues- we must rely on the experts of nutrition support. By all means take the CNSC exam that is offered every spring & fall… and then go for it! If you can pass this exam (which most dietitians take to work in this specialty field) then you are likely ready to start working in any ICU.
oops I meant MPH, RD, CNSC.
That’s great Cynthia! That sounds like something I might like doing once I become registered and am working as an RD some day. But you know what? These guys will pretend they never read any of the information we’ve just shared. They will turn a blind eye, not respond to any of it and continue to go on and on about how they have more expertise than we do, rather than admit that there is alot out there they won’t ever know about medical nutrition therapy if they don’t engage themselves in the learning experience. Thanks for posting!!!
Michelle and Cynthia: You two are missing the whole point and are clearly uninformed of history. First of all, you make an appeal to trauma care at a hospital suggesting the superiority of clinical experience. What is the problem with this argument? First of all, it ignores a larger picture in healthcare. The AMA made the same arguments the ADA is now making regarding their expertise. For example, they opposed Naturopathic Physicians and said their education was subpar and dangerous. They still make this argument today. Recently, the Florida Medical Association opposed the licensing of ND’s. However, these same state will allow nurse practitioners and physicians assistants freedom to diagnose and treat disease. There is no comparison between the schooling of a Naturopathic Physician and a Nurse Practitioner or Physician’s Assistant. The ND’s education blows them out the water. Their schooling is just as lengthy and rigorous as any conventional allopathic program. The difference is the philosophy and approach to healthcare and treatment of disease. Nonetheless, the AMA managed to monopolize medicine over the 20th century and now ND’s are only licensed in around 14 states.
Why do I mention all this? Because this is what the ADA is doing to those Nutritionist who have superior education than some bachelors ADA dietetic program for and RD. What is at issue is philosophy and approach to nutrition and disease. I’m glad you mentioned clinical experience. Why? Consider a nutritionist who received a MS in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. I’m sorry there is no comparison between their knowledge of disease and nutrition and that of some ADA program RD education. To suggest otherwise is utter pride and ignorance. Here is where I agree though. Clinical experience is very important. But here is where you don’t see the problem. Those allowed to get clinical experience must go through an ADA program. Do you see the problem? Those of different schools are denied clinical experience even though they have an MS of PhD in clinical nutrition (degrees that far better prepare them in knowledge of pharmacology and toxicology). Moreover, their knowledge of biochemistry is absolutely superior. However, because they are not part of the allopathic paradigm they are persecuted. Pointing to Loma Linda is ironic considering that Loma Linda does not follow the counsels of their early church leader (Ellen G. White). She openly opposed…
Continued from last message to Michelle and Cynthia……
Pointing to Loma Linda is ironic considering that Loma Linda does not follow the counsels of their early church leader (Ellen G. White). She openly opposed drug use and allopathic arrogance and likened them to a secret society. She said they killed more people than the inquisition. Allopathic control of health care over the 20th century is hardly an improvement simply because we have the FDA or CDC. The medical systems is still killing everyone. Worst of all, they make sure they are in charge and that no competition exists. But go ahead and enjoy being in the drivers seat and patting yourself on the back for having clinical experience. But whatever you do, don’t act like another qualified Nutritionist from Naturopathic or Chiropractic school pale in comparison. I would laugh if it wasn’t so sickening.
Sorry you are not well informed. If people do not see that research funded by the very groups that research would expose is blindness there is no hope for truth in America. The fact that this comment is the only negative (and misspelled) entry is a comment on the intelligence of the one making the negative comment
I am a bodybuilder and private trainer I know more about nutrition than any those so-called ADA morons, if they are so accurate on everything they would look better and be in the same shape as I am and they are not. Enough said.
“There is a reason ‘nutritionists’ don’t work in hospitals. It’s not because they choose not to, it’s because they cannot.”
Well said.
I’ve had a few patients who seek alternate treatment methods from self-proclaimed “nutritionists.” This only delays scientifically proven medical treatment which results in worsening of the disease process.
And STILL no one has answered the question I posted. So I think that proves my point. And sure…working out is absolutely a substitute for 2 years of course work and a 1500 hour practicum. Why did I even bother going to school at all when I could have justed payed 400 dollars to take the ISSA personal training exam in one day and become a nutrition expert that way?
On this really subject, I try update my blogs almost like I’m speaking to somebody or talking to that reader directly as I consider it helps engage people a whole lot far more than writing content material formally specially when my own blog is based about the goings ons, daily thoughts and research about this somewhat controversial concern. I discovered that I nonetheless want to use a lot more of the techniques you’ve got mentioned in this posting.
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