Food Industry Pitted Against Public Health At U.N. Summit

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Paul Hughes

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Sep 21, 2011, 1:51:02 PM9/21/11
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Food Industry Pitted Against Public Health At U.N. Summit 

How do you come up with a plan to help millions of people around the world avoid a chronic disease? For starters, don't treat the food companies that sell the products that contribute to those diseases as partners in the process. At least, that's what public health advocates argue even as the accused companies say they're committed to making healthier products for the masses.

This is all part of the conundrum of taking action at the first United Nations General Assembly session on non-communicable diseases, which concluded today in New York.

"Some food products and companies are clearly in conflict with the goals of the summit," Shiriki Kumanyika, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who represented the International Association for the Study of Obesity at the summit, tells Shots. "So the question is: how do you partner with people who are part of your problem?"


Paul Hughes
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