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British Nutrition Foundation

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British Nutrition Foundation
AbbreviationBNF
Formation1967
Legal statusRegistered charity; Company limited by guarantee[1][2][3]
PurposeSelf-stated: provision of information on nutrition science; independently described as a food-industry interest group
Location
  • New Derwent House, 69-73 Theobalds Road, London
Region served
UK
CEO
Elaine Hindal
Main organ
BNF Council
Websitewww.nutrition.org.uk

The British Nutrition Foundation is a British lobby group largely funded by the food industry. It has been widely criticised for conflicts of interest, and for downplaying them.[4][5] It presents itself to journalists, the public, and the government as a independent, impartial, disinterested, and scientifically-rigorous; its industry funders also promote this image.[4]

In 2023, the BNF had an income of £1.5million, with an expenditure of £1.6million. £113thousand were spent on fundraising.[1]

Government lobbying

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The BNF is open about its intention to shape UK Government policy on food,[4][6] thus serving as a special-interest lobbying group for the food industry, which largely funds the foundation.[4]

Derek Shrimpton, a former director general, said: "In the period I was there the foundation was solely taken up with defence actions for the industry." He also said that BNF had constantly fought against reductions in sugar, salt, and fat consumption, by constantly frustrating government committees aiming to recommend reductions.[4][7][8]

In 2005, 26 UK MPs signed an Early Day Motion in Parliament expressing concern over BNF activities, and requesting more transparency. They noted that the BNF was "primarily industry-supported" and was advising the government on[5]

They also noted that members included "McDonalds, Coca Cola, Northern Foods, Nutrasweet, Kraft, Cadbury-Schweppes, Kelloggs, Nestle, Sainsbury, Asda and Procter and Gamble".[5]

The UK government has paid the BNF to develop educational materials on nutrition. Tim Lobstein, a director at the International Association for the Study of Obesity-International Obesity Task Force (now the World Obesity Federation), said that the BNF has produced educational materials seem to support industry messages. For instance, he said, it "did a big piece of work for the Food Standards Agency reviewing ‘influences on consumer food choices’ which conveniently left out any review of the influence of marketing and advertising techniques". The Campaign Against Trans Fats in Food said that some BFN materials opposed regulation of xenobiotic trans fats.[4][10]

The BNF was lobbying against action on ultra-processed foods in 2023, saying there should be no policies on them.[11]

Media influence

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The media seek out the British Nutrition Foundation as a ready source of authoritative comment on matters of nutrition and wider food policy. In return the foundation swiftly delivers succinct analysis in a language that suits its audience and does not offend either its partners in Whitehall or its paymasters in the food industry. It is a relationship that shows every sign of continuing.

A 2010 British Medical Journal article, also published in a shortened form in The Independent[4][12]

The BNF presents itself to the media as a disinterested commentator. It focusses on providing swift and expert advice to journalists who are not specialist medical reporters.[4][12]

It is often treated by the media as a source of impartial nutritional information. When it is quoted in the media, it is usually just as the "British Nutritional Foundation"; a 2010 search found that only 2/128 media mentions of the BNF mentioned that it has industry funding.[4][12]

Member-funders may have significant conflicts of interest; for instance, the BNF offered a conference on sweeteners without conspicuously disclosing that its funders include then-sugar-manufacturers Tate & Lyle and British Sugar, and artificial sweetener manufacturers Ajinomoto (Aminosweet-brand aspartame) and McNeil Consumer Nutritionals (Splenda), and sweet-drinks manfacturers Coca-cola and Pepsi. It presented itself as objective and evidence-based.[4][12]

The BNF also contributed to a controversial industry-funded panel that generated more positive media coverage of ultra-processed foods. Such foods are manufactured or retailed by many BNF members.[13]

Direct-to-consumer marketing

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Main article: Direct-to-consumer advertising

The BNF contributes extensively to materials aimed at the general public. It describes itself as a supporter of informed consumer choice. For instance, it contributed to the PhunkyFoods campaign, aimed at under-11-year-olds and funded by Nestlé, Northern Foods, and Cargill. It has also channeled industry funding for government programs such as "License to Cook" (www.licencetocook.org.uk), a school cookbook for 11-to-12-year-olds.[4]

The BNF argues that "There is no such thing as a bad food, only a bad diet", and presents itself as a champion of individual choice, opposing government regulation.[4] These are both standard food-industry messages, based on those used by the tobacco industry. They are used to shift blame for the public health harms cause by unhealthy food from producers and regulators onto the consumer.[11]

Academic journal

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See also: Conflicts of interest in academic publishing

The official journal of the BNF, Nutrition Bulletin, describes itself as an international, peer-reviewed journal. It is published quarterly by Wiley.[14] It says that its coverage has included review articles and news items on nutrition, but that since acquisition of an impact factor and MEDLINE coverage, an increasing number of papers reporting original research have been included;[15] many articles are open-access.

Articles in the Nutrition Review may be publicized in press releases put out by the BNF, and garner substantial media coverage. The quality of the scholarship and peer review in the journal has been questioned.[16][better source needed]

Governance

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Paul Hebblethwaite, as of 2009 a member of the BNF board of trustees and its former chairman, has had "a distinguished career in the food industry working for a number of major companies including Cadbury-Schweppes and Chivers-Hartley". He is also chairman of the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Trade Association. Many other members of the organisation’s board of trustees and oversight committees are or have been employees of the food industry.[4]

Under its Memorandum and Articles of Association, the BNF Board has no more than 12 Trustees. Two are allowed to be currently working in the food industry, and many BNF staffers, including govenors, move back and forth between the BNF and industry jobs.[4] The BNF website says that trustees are appointed by the Board and serve for a term of three years, with each Trustee able to serve for a maximum of nine years,[17] and that the BNF also has an Editorial Advisory Board, educational working groups, and a "register of interests" for Board members and senior managers.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "British Nutrition Foundation, registered charity no. 251681". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. ^ "British Nutrition Foundation, Registered Charity no. SC040061". Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
  3. ^ "BRITISH NUTRITION FOUNDATION (THE) overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Chamberlain, Phil (22 March 2010). "Independence of nutritional information?". London: British Medical Journal. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "British Nutrition Foundation. EDM (Early Day Motion)278: tabled on 07 June 2005". UK Parliament. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Who we are, what we do". London: British Nutrition Foundation. 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  7. ^ Cannon, G (1997). The Politics of Food. London: Century. p. 356.
  8. ^ interview with Derek Shrimpton in a 1985 World in Action documentary[full citation needed]
  9. ^ Tedstone, Alison (16 October 2014). "How to become a Registered Nutritionist – UK Health Security Agency". ukhsa.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  10. ^ Chamberlain, Phil; Laurance, Jeremy (22 March 2010). "Is the British Nutrition Foundation having its cake and eating it too?". The Independent (UK ed.). Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Avoiding conflict of interest in nutrition research | ANH Academy". www.anh-academy.org. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Chamberlain, Phil; Laurance, Jeremy (22 March 2010). "Is the British Nutrition Foundation having its cake and eating it too?". The Independent (UK ed.). Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  13. ^ Coombes, Rebecca (1 November 2023). "Row over ultra-processed foods panel highlights conflicts of interest issue at heart of UK science reporting". BMJ. 383: 2514. doi:10.1136/bmj.p2514. PMID 37914181. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Nutrition Bulletin - Wiley Online Library". Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  15. ^ de la Hunty, Anne (2023). "Expanding our editorial capacity". Nutrition Bulletin (editorial). 48 (3): 314–316. doi:10.1111/nbu.12631. PMID 37593825.
  16. ^ Briffa, Dr John (26 September 2012). "The head of the British Nutrition Foundation responds to my blog post on bread, and I have a few words for her too - Dr Briffa's Blog - A Good Look at Good Health". Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  17. ^ British Nutrition Foundation 2022, p. 14.
  18. ^ British Nutrition Foundation 2022, pp. 14–15.

Sources

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