Disturbingly, the McDonald’s and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics lovefest continues.
We’ve told you about McDonald’s gold sponsorship of the annual California Dietetic Association meeting, as well as McDonald’s Director of Nutrition, Registered Dietitian Dr. Cindy Goody, touting the chain’s “healthful offerings” at the Utah Dietetic Association earlier this year.
This article by Dr. Joseph Adams touches on McDonald’s recent presentation at the Maryland Dietetic Association conference.
“There, at a for-credit course for Maryland dietitians last month, were the McDonald’s “golden arches” on a Power Point presentation titled, The Fast Food Industry Response to a Call for Nutritional Advancement.
Cheeseburgers and french fries flashed by. The Egg McMuffin, the audience was told, is one of the chain’s “Wholesome Starts” because it includes “real eggs” (not powdered), and because there is now some whole wheat flour in the muffin, and the Canadian style bacon is a good source of protein.
A McDonald’s representative informed the registered dietitians (gathered in a Linthicum Heights meeting room for the annual meeting of the Maryland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) about “ways to give your patients nutrition-minded fast food advice.”
They were reassured that McDonald’s snacks meet “the snack guidelines” – apparently developed by McDonald’s itself. And who knew that the global fast food giant is “championing children’s well-being?”
Even if leaders in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics wholeheartedly (albeit, naively) believe that partnering with the likes of McDonald’s is a viable solution to our worsening public health problems, how can they be so blind to the fact that it is precisely these partnerships that continually — and rightfully — place our credential under tremendous scrutiny from the general public and other health professionals?
These partnerships tarnish the RD credential while allowing the food industry to pass off marketing as a public health campaign.
Leave a Comment