Coca-Cola has released a list of Australian health groups and institutions on the receiving end of funding grants.
Coca-Cola this month released a list of Australian health groups and institutions on the receiving end of Coca-Cola funding and research grants.
The company funded health-related groups to the tune of $1.7 million over five years, including $132,700 to 14 individual experts.
Coke’s promise to be transparent about its funding of health and wellness initiatives came in the wake of the New York Times expose of the soft-drink company’s funding of the Global Energy Balance Network.
The existence of this and other ‘health’ groups that focus almost entirely on exercise have prompted criticisms that Coca-Cola is ‘astroturfing’, or trying to shift the narrative away from diet and towards exercise under the veneer of grassroots, independent advocacy.
Recipients of Coke funding between 2010 and 2015 were largely those on their Health & Wellness Advisory Council, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
One of the recipients, Professor Peter Clifton, told the SMH that during his time on the advisory he made recommendations that Coke reduce portion sizes and expand into low-calorie drinks and milk products.
The multibillion dollar international company then “closely listened to” this advice, Professor Clifton said.
Professor Tim Olds, from the University of SA, who received Coke funding for an obesity study, said it did not matter where the funding came from.
“We’re not going to have a world where there is no private funding of public sector research,” he told the ABC’s 7:30 Report.
