Remember recently when we were told it was healthy to eat red meat again contrary to decades of nutrition science? Well it turns out, the report author had longstanding ties to an industry group founded by a former Coca-Cola executive: the International Life Sciences Institute or ILSI.

Described as a “shadowy industry group” and “the most powerful food industry group you’ve never heard of” in a New York Times exposé, ILSI has been peddling junk science and political influence for corporate benefactors like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dupont, Nestlé, Bayer-Monsanto, and McDonald’s for over four decades.

Based in Washington, D.C., ILSI boasts 16 affiliated chapters across the world dedicated to creating a favorable regulatory environment for some of the world’s biggest polluters, public health offenders, and labor rights abusers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2020-2025 dietary guidelines—the official guidance on what every American, from schoolchildren to seniors, should eat and drink—will be based on the recommendations of a panel where more than half of the members have ties to ILSI including its chair and vice-chair.  

At the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, a recent study exposed how a former Coca-Cola executive and founding president of ILSI sought the help of an agency insider to dull World Health Organization criticism of sugar-sweetened beverages.

And remember the ILSI-linked researcher who revived red meat? He first gained notoriety by producing an ILSI-funded study attacking global health advice to eat less sugar. According to NYU Professor Marion Nestle, “This comes right out of the tobacco industry’s playbook: cast doubt on the science...It’s shameful.”

It’s time for Coca-Cola (and its collaborators) to put more on ice than its sugar water. It’s time to stop funding junk science and peddling it as public health information.