Higher nutrition not on the American Dietetic Association's menu

June 22, 9:19 AMLA Environmental Health ExaminerNJ Jaeger

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In this expose, the respected Organic Consumers Association takes a look at the corporate connection behind the American Dietetic Association's vocal support of commercial farming.

Read their well done consumer briefing below, and go to their website to send a letter to your local editor: The American Dietetic Association Buries Organic Nutrition Facts, Supports Industrial Agriculture.

The American Dietetic Association refuses to embrace the 2007 and 2009 findings of its Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group that plants cultivated in organic systems contain higher levels of nutrients and an organic diet avoids the serious health risks associated with pesticide exposure.

Instead of following its Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group on the issue, the American Dietetic Association has allowed Marianne Smith Edge, a past president of ADA, to be the face of the organization on this topic, giving her presentation, "The Organic Debate: Is the Premium Worth It?" as the keynote address at meetings of state dietetic associations across the nation. (The ADA did include a competing presentation, New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Food, by Charles Benbrook of the Organic Center at their 2008 annual conference.)

If one searches "organic" on the American Dietetic Association web site, one finds a page claiming, "nutritionally there is no evidence that organic produce is better or safer than conventionally grown produce."

The implications of the American Dietetic Association's refusal to embrace organic are worsened by its refusal to reject genetic engineering and chemical ingredients. It recently put its stamp of approval on aspartame and has a policy statement that in favor of genetic engineering. Check out their list of corporate sponsors, if you have any doubt about who the ADA works for.

Unfortunately, most news outlets look uncritically to the American Dietetics Association to provide trustworthy and accurate information on diet and nutrition. Please write to the editors of your local papers to ask them to investigate conflicts of interest at the American Dietetic Association.

To send a letter go to, http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/letter/?letter_KEY=1152