Tom Avril, “Influence of Corporate Money on Study of Nutrition Questioned,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 25, 2008

Inquirer staff writer Tom Avril opens his piece by focusing on a nutritionist who advised consumers to drink orange juice as a boost to the immune system when Forbes.com wrote an article in 2007 about preventing colds and the flu and turned to her for a quote. Apparently, nutritionist Lisa Hark was being paid by the Florida orange industry to promote its product when she gave the advice. According to Avril, such corporate ties are not unusual, and he notes how the federal government formed a new 13-member panel this year to review dietary guidelines, including six members who “have received funding from the food or pharmaceutical industries.”

Most of the article details Hark’s ties to other corporations and questions whether she was qualified to make some nutrition recommendations she provided on their behalf. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, is quoted as saying, “For professionals to take money and believe they remain unbiased is contrary to both scientific evidence and common
sense. Otherwise, why would industry pay all that money.” Hark claimed that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that her opinion would be influenced by money.