As the World Health Organization raised questions this summer about the risks of a popular artificial sweetener, a new hashtag began spreading on the social media accounts of health professionals: #safetyofaspartame.
What these dietitians didn’t make clear was that they were paid to post the videos by American Beverage, a trade and lobbying group representing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other companies. While some dietitians noted in their social media posts that they were part of paid partnerships, their relationships with the food industry were in many cases not made explicit to viewers, the analysis found. The Federal Trade Commission advises all social media influencers to be clear about who is paying them for promotions.
A spokesman said the campaign was warranted because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other health authorities have said aspartame is safe and disagreed with the WHO’s warnings.“The registered dietitians and nutritionists we relied on shared their own informed opinions when communicating the facts to their audiences, and were up front about being paid,” said William Dermody, an American Beverage spokesman.
When a viewer posted a comment on the video asking Phipps who her “paid partner” was, Phipps acknowledged it was American Beverage and said any suggestion that “I would compromise my professional ethics for money is insulting.”Encouraging followers to eat sugar and candy In one video, Pleskot held a glazed doughnut and chocolate chip cookie, and she mocked advice to reduce sugar intake. She said the “best” ways to cut sugar are “with a knife, with my hands, even with my teeth.”In the description next to the video, she wrote, “dietitian approved.”
Since last year, the sugar group has paid at least a dozen registered dietitians to post videos about sugar on Instagram. The analysis by The Post and The Examination also found that dietitians have been paid to tout the benefits of dietary supplements that lack scientific consensus, including products like collagen supplements promoted for skin, nail and joint health; detox teas that claim to help the body expel toxins; and capsules marketed for “mitochondrial health.”
Few of the dietitians in the analysis said in their actual videos that their posts were advertisements. Instead, in the text accompanying their videos, they used terms like #ad, #sponsored or “Paid partnership.” “Would you expect that a dietitian would be partnering with the soda industry?” Patten asked. “Those are the most important kinds of disclosures that we need.”
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the trade group that oversees registered dietitians, has a code of ethics that says that dietitians should disclose conflicts of interest and avoid “accepting gifts or services which potentially influence or which may give the appearance of influencing professional judgment.”
Some dietitians have questioned the relationship between the academy and food and beverage companies. In response to a 2013 report that investigated the academy’s industry ties, more than a dozen registered dietitians formed Dietitians for Professional Integrity, a group that advocated against what members saw as compromising financial ties to the food industry.