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Coke Discloses Millions in Grants for Health Research and Programs
New submitter erinrivers11 writes: Following criticism that Coke has supported research that plays down the role of soft drinks in the spread of obesity, the company released a list showing nearly $120 million in grants to medical, research and community organizations. The Times reports: "The list, published Tuesday on the company’s website, details hundreds of Coke grants, large and small, to a variety of organizations since 2010, including physician groups, university researchers, cancer and diabetes organizations and public parks, and even a foundation for the National Institutes of Health."
This is how you manipulate people opinions by let others people tell that everything is ok or everything is an hoax.
For years the tobacco industry did something along the same lines.
It's the calories stupid.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
And if you had found out: "Despite selling its products to literally billions of people across the globe (and making billions of dollars by doing so), Coca-Cola does not actively fund any analysis or research into the long-term health effects of its products or their ingredients, or assist in any community efforts to deal with potential negative consequences of using its products", would you be somehow less-alarmed? Personally, I'd find that to be a whole lot worse. Like, "reckless disregard for the well-being of its customers" worse.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Oh, the irony!
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
It does not matter how much they spend on neutral research for general healthcare, they spent money on 'targeted research' (I won't call it science) to the benefit of their own business interests.
I bet they spent at least that much lobbying and I bet most of the "research" they funded conviniently paints Coke is a flattering light,
Keep in mind that the Coca-Cola company had a gross profit of $28,010,000,000.00 for fiscal year 2015 with a profit margin of 66%. $120,000,000.00 in grants amounts to .042% of their gross. For them, this is cheap window dressing. Do no mistake this for good corporate citizenship.
Sodium benzoate causes cancer. They knew about it for years. When it looked like the whole story was about to break, they *silently* pull it and replace it with potassium benzoate.
Does that cause cancer? The jury's still out, but the signs aren't good.
Bottom line is, there's little doubt that KO pumped Americans full of carcinogens for decades. And the "new" alternative is highly suspect.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
With public sponsorship of research dwindling, many governments are forcing researchers to seek industrial partnerships and to work towards commercialization rather than basic science only. Researchers in fields like food and diet must often partner with producers, so as long as they declare all funding sources I don't have a problem with it. The alternative is to increase public funding of research, but that would cut into leader's pet projects...
So, what is the cost of the public's consumption of Coca-Cola? I've got to believe that the cost in ulcers and diabetes alone is more than $120M/yr.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I must have missed it in the article... when did Coke start force-feeding us its products?
Of course Coca Cola is the personification of "evil big food" and they will do whatever it takes to keep making money as water running from the tap. Its amazing how much money one can make from selling flavoured sugar water plus some advertising.
But the negative effects of increased sugar intake is nothing new. For several years the anti-fructose movement has been making noise and has been showing increasing insight is the underlying mechanisms. Famous example spokesperson of this movement is Dr Lustig, and googling his name alone gives a boatload of references.
But where is the response from society (not from some smart commercial brands), where is the education in schools, in children's TV programs, in popular scientific programs, in journals being read by large percentages of the population. And when will we start listening to this??!!
We still buy all this processed junk, with the bright coloured labels promising everything and being "fat free". We as a society have to immediately start buying other food products. More "real" unprocessed foods, and please leave those products with added sugar packaged in plastic in the store. Spend more time buying, cooking, eating and ENJOYING this food.
The industry will make whatever we buy. Self regulation from their side is an illusion.
So WE need to change.
Why are other peoples sig's always more witty ???
...what I really don't understand...
is how, with Coca Cola's flavo(u)r changing so little over the years, nobody seems to have reverse engineered a clone that actually tastes like Coca Cola.
There are a good dozen colas on the shelves. There are colas way better than Coca Cola, e.g. Fentiman's, but they are so fucking expensive; there are those that are "the same but different", e.g. Pepsi, meaning you either prefer Pepsi or you don't; and each supermarket has its own brand(s) which taste slightly different than the next but all fairly cheap, right down to some "value cola"s which taste not unlike rancid sugar and tar.
Why has no collaboration been able to come forward and produce a competitor which mimics C-C but which doesn't feel the need to rake in $28 billion before tax?
On the $3.3 billion in back taxes Coca-Cola owes the American public...
"Coke-Sponsored Rover Finds Evidence Of Dasani On Mars "
http://www.theonion.com/article/coke-sponsored-rover-finds-evidence-of-dasani-on-m-1146
OK, I'm going to help you guys out. Give you something healthy, delicious and refreshing to drink that won't make you fat, ruin your teeth or cause you to grow a tumor the size of a pillbox hat on your head. Stay with me.
1) Get a soda stream. They're cheap now, and I found mine at a garage sale. Staples, Target and others still sell the CO2 tanks, and if you're clever you can figure out how to get your own refilled on the cheap.
2) When you make the soda, just leave it as plain carbonated water and stick it in the fridge. By the way, you can "overcharge" soda with a SodaStream so that the carbonation levels are much higher than regular pop. This is what I do because I like that carbonated "burn" you get. The SodaStream bottles have special caps so that the carbonation doesn't escape, so you can always have some good fizzy water at the ready when you want it.
3) Brew up some green tea with a good amount of ginger. It can also be fruit-flavored for a little sweetness. When my wife makes jam, I save some of the fruit juice left over and put that in, too. Make the tea STRONG because it's gonna be your flavoring syrup for the drink you're making.
4) Now this is the kicker: When the tea cools, shake some cayenne pepper on it and stir it in. This you have to do by taste because people tolerate different levels of hot. I know it sounds weird, but trust me. You gotta add the cayenne pepper to the flavoring mix (although one of my friends waits until after he's mixed the flavoring with the soda water to sprinkle the cayenne pepper, because he thinks he's a bad-ass, but really he ain't shit. I could totally kick his ass if I were 15 years younger. He also puts a little ginseng in the tea, but I don't do that because I don't have any trouble in that area, if you get my drift.
5. When you're ready for a great drink, pour a nice glass of the soda water, and then pour a little of the tea/ginger/fruitjuice/cayenne pepper mix in and stir. It'll foam up a bit creating a nice little "head" in the glass. The flavoring mixture stores very well in the fridge, just shake it up when you're ready to add it to the soda water.
I'm telling you, this stuff is like ginger ale with a hard-on. It's like Dr Pepper, if Dr Pepper were played by Peter Capaldi. You can drink it all day and it won't make you fat, and the ginger and cayenne pepper are healthy as hell. You'll doubt me, but hand-to-god, when I drink this stuff my sinus allergies get better. It's good for digestion and it will save you a ton of money over store-bought soda pop. I mean hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Fuck Coke.
You are welcome on my lawn.
> What we need to fix is American stupidity.
Other side of the pond here. Same stupidity (granted, details and accents vary a bit, perhaps multinationals are a tad less powerful; fixing that with TTIP).
The problem is: given the stupid food we are fed -- how are we supposed to get rid of said stupidity?
I am 53 and obese. Think Cartman from South Park large. I didn't get this way from drinking Coke and eating donuts. I got my excess weight from overeating and drinking lots of beer. I do enjoy a Coke now and then. While not a cure, it always helps a hangover. My point is, I don't care if Coke is good or bad for me because I only drink it once every couple of months when I feel like it. This obsession with demonizing anything that could possibly be bad for us is crazy. Do people abuse Coke, sure, just like I used to abuse beer. But that's their problem. Anyone who is dumb enough to not take a close look at what they put in their mouths deserves whatever comes their way, me included. By the way, I am eating healthy now, working out and I have all but stopped drinking beer. Leaving the beer alone was tough but I feel so much better.
The Romans used to say 'Where the teeth go, the bones follow'
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I've used it to clean rust of metal. I thought it was a myth until I tried it and it work much better than I had expected. It's also a great grease remover! As for drinking it, blech - I can't understand how people can drink all this sugary shit and wonder why their health is slowly deteriorating.
It's just another negative externality from the corporate pirates raiding society of all it's value.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The summary misrepresents the article. Coke disclosed the list to offset the idea that they were funding research to downplay obesity and Coke links.
The list was released after the company’s chief executive, Muhtar Kent, promised to be transparent about its partnerships and support for scientific research related to obesity. The move was prompted by criticism that the company has used its vast resources to play down the role of Coke products in the spread of obesity ...
Nowhere in the summary does it say that all the research it funded supported a specific conclusion. Rather, just it implies the opposite, that Coke funded everyone.
“What I find most remarkable about this list is its length and comprehensiveness,” said Dr. Nestle, author of the book “Soda Politics.” “No organization, no matter how small, goes unfunded. Any scientist or dietitian who is willing to take Coca-Cola funding gets it.”
The only problem with this list is the conflict of interest in taking funding from a beverage company to study the effects of the beverage in diets.
Whoever wrote the summary, please read the article carefully!!
But really I drink coke I favor coke above all others.
I am responsible. if I get fat as I dont exercise ever sense discharge from the Army I had enough to suit me.
Moderation.
To help with that mix 2 shots of 151 rum with 12 oz.
I'm alarmed at the growing tendency for people to jump to conclusions on topics/conspiracy theories with popular support. Coke making donations to and providing grants for medical research companies, or even directly funding research into sugared beverages and obesity is not in and of itself evidence that they're trying to manipulate the research. If it is, you put Coke in an impossible damned if you do, damned if you don't position. If they do make the donations, you criticize them for trying to manipulate research results in their favor. If they don't make the donations, you criticize them for being greedy corporate bastards who won't even donate to scientific research relevant to their product.
The donations themselves are not evidence that Coke has been trying to manipulate research results. If you want to support that hypothesis, you need to come up with specific incidents where Coke made the donations conditional on withholding or changing research results unfavorable to their product.
Just because a majority of people want to believe this theory doesn't free you from the logical and ethical obligation to actually prove the claim. The person advocating the hypothesis always has the burden of proof.
Sodium Benzoate is NOT a carcinogen as claimed by popo, and as pointed out in several replies.
integrity of the scientific community is now.