by Research has shown that more than half of the experts on the UK government’s nutrition advisory board have links to the food industry.
At least eleven of the 17 members of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) have links to companies such as Nestlé and the world’s largest ice cream producer, Unilever.
The conflict of interest has raised doubts about the organisation’s impartiality and there are fears that the organisation is contributing to an “explosion of suffering and death from diet-related disease in the UK”.
The SACN is an influential group of independent experts who advise the government and thus influence policy.
A study found that government health food advisers have collaborated with companies like Nestlé that sell junk food.
Since its founding in 2000, the organization has produced widely acclaimed guidelines on daily salt and sugar intake, vitamin D supplementation and baby nutrition.
But with obesity and related health problems on the rise, there is criticism that both the SACN and the officials tasked with reviewing its recommendations have not done enough to stop this trend.
BMJ researchers examined the interests declared by SACN members in publicly available documents on the government website over the past three years.
They found that David Mela, a retired chief scientist at Unilever, had worked as a consultant to Unilever, Tate and Lyle, Coca Cola’s Israel franchise CBC Israel and Cargill, which produces cocoa and chocolate products, among others.
Another member, Julie Lovegrove, chairs an expert group at the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe, whose member companies include Pepsico, Cadbury’s US owner Mondelez, and General Mills, the US company behind Cheerios and Haagen Dazs.
At least six of the 11 members of the SACN Maternal and Child Nutrition Subgroup have links to food companies, including manufacturers of baby formula and infant formula.
They include Ann Prentice, a council member of the Nestlé Foundation, and Marion Hetherington, who has done volunteer work for Danone and the baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen.
Nutritionist Ann Prentice is a council member of the Nestlé Foundation, the BMJ investigation found
The group’s chairman, Ken Ong, also received research funding from Mead Johnston Nutrition, a manufacturer of infant formula, according to the investigation.
Last night, experts criticized the associations, saying they may have unwittingly hindered progress in improving the population’s nutrition.
Chris van Tulleken, associate professor at University College London and author of a best-selling book on ultra-processed foods, said: “Even small financial conflicts influence behaviour and beliefs in subtle or unconscious ways.”
“Despite twenty years of work by the contradictory SACN, there has been an explosion in suffering and death from diet-related disease in the UK. I therefore find the claim that the committee has been particularly effective lacking credibility.”
He added: “There are some excellent independent experts, but they are in the minority and in my view their work is hampered by conflicts of interest with the industry that has caused this health crisis. SACN must become independent of the food industry.”
David Mela, a retired chief scientist at Unilever, has worked as a consultant to Unilever, Tate and Lyle and chocolate maker Cargill.
Rob Percival, head of policy at the Soil Association, said: “We are concerned that the committee and its integrity could be undermined by these links with the food industry.”
Others, however, defended these links, arguing that they were partly due to a lack of funding for relevant research.
Alison Tedstone, former chief nutritionist at Public Health England, also said that refusing to include experts with links to industry in the SACN would “diminish” its expertise and could lead to a delay in future legislation.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) responded on behalf of the SACN and all members named in this article, stating that its members have an obligation to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
A spokesman said these would be recorded in the minutes of committee meetings and also published on the SACN website.
He said: “None of the committee members are directly employed by the food and drink industry and all have a duty to act in the public interest and to be independent and impartial.”
