Emails Reveal How Coca-Cola Shaped The Anti-Obesity Global Energy Balance Network

Surprising virtually no one, Coca-Cola appears to have wielded significant influence over the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), an anti-obesity group that it funded, according to emails obtained by the Associated Press (AP).

The GEBN describes itself as a “voluntary public-private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to identifying and implementing innovative solutions – based on the science of energy balance – to prevent and reduce diseases associated with inactivity, poor nutrition and obesity.” Critics have called it a soda-industry front group that funds scientists to shift the blame for obesity away from diet and onto lack of exercise.

In August, James Hill, the GEBN president and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine had denied that Coca-Cola’s $1.5 million donation to the group, had influenced its research, strategy or other activities, stating in the New York Times, “They’re not running the show. We’re running the show.” The University of Colorado announced it was returning “a $1 million gift from Coca-Cola” in November after being harshly criticized.

However, eye-opening exchanges between Hill, John Peters, another GEBN leader and professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Coca-Cola executives like Rhona Applebaum, Coke’s chief health and science officer demonstrate that the beverage maker was quite involved in shaping the group’s strategy and development. And GEBN’s leaders appeared more than happy to help Coca-Cola improve its image and promote exercise as the cause of obesity.

Some of the highlights of the AP’s email excerpts include:

An October 16, 2012 email in which Applebaum tells Hill that those who become involved in the soon-to-be-created GEBN will have to be open to collaborating with private industry.

A July 9, 2014 email in which Applebaum attaches a “tweaked” proposal for the GEBN. The proposal says of the network: "Akin to a political campaign, we will develop, deploy and evolve a powerful and multi-faceted strategy to counter radical organizations and their proponents."

An August 30, 2014 email from Hill to a Coke executive about a research proposal: "Here is my concept. I think it could provide a strong rationale for why a company selling sugar water SHOULD focus on promoting physical activity. This would be a very large and expensive study but could be a game changer. We need this study to be done."

An Nov. 9, 2014 email in which Hill writes to a Coke executive: “I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples' lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them."

A June 4, 2014 email from Hill to a Coke executive saying the focus of the company's research should be energy balance: "We have given you ideas here. We have also given you ideas for research projects that might be very specific to coke (sic) interests."

Soda industry leaders have been preaching about “energy balance” for years to deflect criticism of their products while continuing to relentlessly market unhealthy drinks to children and adults. In a 2010 interview, PepsiCo ’s CEO, Indra Nooyi, said, “If all consumers exercised, did what they had to do, the problem of obesity wouldn’t exist.” However, evidence indicates that while exercise is important for health, diet is the key to weight loss.

Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University and author of Soda Politics described the revelations from the AP email excerpts as “right out of the cigarette industry playbook. The level of detail soda companies employ to attack the science, silence critics, deflect attention from the harm caused by their products and buy loyalty is astounding.”

Nestle believes that food and drink companies should not be funding scientists “because research sponsored by food companies almost invariably comes out with results favorable to the sponsor’s interests, even when independently funded research finds otherwise.” Since mid-March, Nestle has been collecting and publishing food industry-sponsored studies on her blog, Food Politics. To date, 75 of the studies have been favorable to the sponsors while six have not.

While Coca-Cola’s credibility has taken a major hit, another casualty of this scandal was Applebaum, Coke’s outspoken chief science officer, who is retiring. When asked if she thought Applebaum had stepped over the line, Nestle replied, “Step over the line?  No, she got caught. And remember: it was her tweet about the GEBN that set off this entire investigation.”