Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat

by Marion Nestle

Overview

A James Beard Award-winner and the author of What to Eat and Soda Politics, leading nutritionist Marion Nestle exposes how the food industry corrupts scientific research for profit.

Is chocolate heart-healthy? Does yogurt prevent type 2 diabetes? Do pomegranates help cheat death? News accounts bombard us with such amazing claims, report them as science, and influence what we eat. Yet, as Marion Nestle explains, these studies are more about marketing than science; they are often paid for by companies that sell those foods. Whether it's a Coca-Cola-backed study hailing light exercise as a calorie neutralizer, or blueberry-sponsored investigators proclaiming that this fruit prevents erectile dysfunction, every corner of the food industry knows how to turn conflicted research into big profit. As Nestle argues, it's time to put public health first. Written with unmatched rigor and insight, Unsavory Truth reveals how the food industry manipulates nutrition science — and suggests what we can do about it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541697119
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	10/30/2018
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	907,200
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, emerita, at New York University, and Visiting Professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell. She has a PhD in molecular biology and an MPH in public health nutrition from UC Berkeley. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

1 The Food Industry and Nutrition 1

2 A Cautionary Tale: Drug Company Influence 13

3 The Unusual Complexity of Nutrition Research 29

4 How Sweet It Is: Sugar and Candy as Health Foods 45

5 Selling Meat and Dairy Foods 61

6 Research on Healthy Foods: Marketing, Not Necessarily Science 75

7 Coca-Cola: A Case Study in Itself 91

8 Conflicted Advisory Committees: Then and Now 107

9 Co-opted? The American Society for Nutrition 125

10 Nutrition Education and Dietetics Societies: Industry Influence 141

11 Justifications, Rationales, Excuses: Isn't Everyone Conflicted? 157

12 Disclosure-and Its Discontents 173

13 Managing Conflicts: Early Attempts 189

14 Beyond Disclosure: What to Do? 203

15 Stakeholders: Take Action 217

Acknowledgments 233

Abbreviations 237

Notes 239

Notes to Tables 287

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

09/24/2018
Nestle (Soda Politics) delivers a groundbreaking look at how food corporations influence nutrition research and public policy. Her focus, influenced by her own experience as a nutrition researcher, is on the myriad conflicts of interest created when food corporations fund research projects into public health. She opens with a Coca-Cola–backed study as an example of how corporations sponsor nutrition research that ultimately supports their own marketing goals—in this case, by backing researchers who showed exercise as more consequential than diet for influencing body weight. Nestle goes on to find many more examples of corporate-backed studies affecting the often misleading marketing consumers receive about the health benefits of various foods, including in the meat, yogurt, and milk industries. She also provides solutions for managing these conflicts of interest, acknowledging that not all industry-backed research is biased or false. To this end, Nestle cites several examples of organizations, such as World Obesity, that are paving the way for establishing ethical standards when using corporate funding. However, she insists that it is imperative to eventually disengage research from food industry funding altogether. General and specialist readers alike will appreciate this important message for consumers. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

One of Nature's Best Science Books of the Year (2018)

"In her latest book, Unsavory Truth, Nestle levels a withering fusillade of criticism against food and beverage companies that use questionable science and marketing to push their own agendas about what should end up on our dinner tables...There is indeed something rotten in the state of dietary science, but books like this show us that we consumers also hold a great deal of power."—Science

"A remorseless dissection of the corruption of science by industry."—Nature

"The links and conflicts of interest between the food industry and the world of nutrition professionals are, in Nestle's telling, perhaps even wilder and more egregiously tangled."—New York Magazine, The Cut

"Nestle writes in simple and informative language, diving into history, university politics, and failed government policies to improve people's health."—Vice, Tonic

"Through her investigation into how money flows from companies and trade groups to labs, [Nestle] shows how pervasive the problem is—and why it's distorting how we think about health."—Vox

"Unsavory Truth is fascinating, and wherever you fall on the spectrum of worrying about food industry conflicts, a worthwhile read."—Weighty Matters

"Nestle reveals not only how the food industry manipulates nutrition science, but how readers can reclaim their health from these marketing schemes."—Foodtank

"Nestle delivers a groundbreaking look at how food corporations influence nutrition research and public policy...General and specialist readers alike will appreciate this important message for consumers."—Publishers Weekly

"Nestle proves yet again that she is a unique, valuable voice for engaged food consumers."—Kirkus

"This well documented, accessible venture makes a compelling argument."—Booklist

"Marion Nestle is a national treasure. She has the courage to take on multinational corporations and the wisdom to separate the facts from the spin. If you care about our food system and the health of your family, Unsavory Truth is essential reading."—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

"In clear, concise language, Marion Nestle details the many ways our ideas about what to eat are being manipulated by Big Food. If you want to make better choices, read this book."—Ruth Reichl, former editor of Gourmet Magazine

"Marion Nestle is a tireless warrior for public health, and her meticulous research and irrefutable arguments are desperately needed right now. This book, as frightening as it is, compels us to discover where true health begins: nutrition starts in the ground, with real food that is sustainably grown, eaten in season, and alive."—Alice Waters, founder, owner, and executive chef of Chez Panisse

"What happens when one of the country's great nutrition investigators follows the money in food and science? You get this riveting, provocatively-written book, which deftly explores how the processed food industry has deepened our dependence on its products by sponsoring and manipulating food research for decades. This book should be read by anyone who has been seduced by the words, 'New study shows...'—which is all of us."—Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat

"Marion Nestle has been a guiding light for sanity, credibility, and justice in food and nutrition for decades; she stands alone in her field. In Unsavory Truth, she exposes the awful deceptions practiced on eaters by manipulative food companies using 'scientific research' to try to make themselves look good."—Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything

"Marion Nestle is a truth-teller in a world awash with nutrition lies of one kind and another. In this scintillating and eye-opening book, Nestle reveals how much of our confusion about food in modern times has been spread by the food industry itself, which passes off marketing as science and funds 'research' designed to show that its products are harmless. Unsavory Truth is essential reading for anyone in search of hard facts about what to eat."—Bee Wilson, author of First Bite and Consider the Fork

From the Publisher

This audiobook will reconfirm fears you may have about the food industry. It likely doesn’t come as a surprise that Big Food tries to mislead consumers into eating unhealthfully. And therein lies the problem with this audiobook. Nora Tocci does a fine, if somewhat antiseptic, presentation of what is undoubtedly an important book. Her narration conveys the importance of recognizing the duplicity of the Big Food industry, but this isn't SILENT SPRING or THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA. Who doesn't already suspect that food companies aren’t taking the same road as the tobacco industry of 50 years ago? Nonetheless, this is an important audiobook and is presented well. But don't feel bad if you speed up the playback. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

This audiobook will reconfirm fears you may have about the food industry. It likely doesn’t come as a surprise that Big Food tries to mislead consumers into eating unhealthfully. And therein lies the problem with this audiobook. Nora Tocci does a fine, if somewhat antiseptic, presentation of what is undoubtedly an important book. Her narration conveys the importance of recognizing the duplicity of the Big Food industry, but this isn't SILENT SPRING or THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA. Who doesn't already suspect that food companies aren’t taking the same road as the tobacco industry of 50 years ago? Nonetheless, this is an important audiobook and is presented well. But don't feel bad if you speed up the playback. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile