Difference between revisions of "British Nutrition Foundation"

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Revision as of 11:55, 19 February 2010

Foodspin badge.png This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) is the key food industry front group in the UK. The BNF claims to promote 'the nutritional wellbeing of society through the impartial interpretation and effective dissemination of scientifically based nutritional knowledge and advice'.[1]

"It works in partnership with academic and research institutes, the food industry, educators and government. The Foundation influences all in the food chain, government, the professions and the media. The Foundation is a charitable organisation which raises funds from the food industry, government and a variety of other sources."[2]

The BNF website contains a 'links' page to 'member companies', but there is no indication that they fund it or how much they pay.

History and exposure

Founded in 1967 it has a long record of campaigning to defend the interests of the food industry. Its 2000-01 annual report lists of the largest food companies operating in the UK including some of the biggest transnational corporations such as Ajinomoto (makers of Nutrasweet), British Sugar, Cadbury's Coca Cola, Du Pont, Sainsbury's, Kellogg's, McDonald's, Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Roche, Tate and Lyle, Trebor Bassett, Unilever and Weetabix. The BNF declines to publish its membership fees but declares income of £662,503 in the year 2004-2005 from 'Covenants, donations and memberships'. [3] On average this would translate as around £19,500 for each member, an insignificant sum for such large companies. The BNF was exposed by a World in Action documentary in 1985 when its Director General from 1982-4, Dr Derek Shrimpton appeared revealing that it was unable to pursue an independent line on nutrition policy: 'In the period I was there the BNF was solely taken up with defensive actions for the industry', he said. He revealed that it had conducted a long struggle to undermine successive government committees which were trying to recommend reductions in the consumption of sugars, salt and fats. The BNF role was to try and 'kill' the NACNE Committee:

If it couldn't be killed it was best to be emasculated. And in all events the BNF must come out of this very white. At no time must the BNF's hand be seen in this… the tactic was to delay it and delay it again, so that everybody got fed up and at no point would it see the light of day. If that failed then it was to be published as low key as possible and no official support.[1]

The BNF campaigning was so effective that the government report was suppressed and never implemented. The only defeat for the BNF was that the suppression was picked up in the media and caused a major political row - but no action. The follow up committee was jointly convened with the BNF and its report too was suppressed.[2] This was a factor in the later abolition of the Health Education Council by the Thatcher government and its replacement with a quango less threatening to industry interests. Mind you., even this organisations became too threatening to the government over the issues of HIV and AIDS and it was closed and absorbed into the NHS.[4]

The appearance of independence convinces many. BNF officials and associated scientists sit on government committees and according to the BNF annual report 2001 the organisation 'is increasingly asked to check copy by magazines' the kind of public credibility which corporations crave.[5]

Its industrial sponsors include:

Policy work

Education

The BNF produces briefings on several topics, including salt and diet, food additives and children's behaviour. They also have a dedicated education section. The education section contains information packs and recipes for primary and secondary school pupils.[6]


The education section is produced in conjunction with Meat and Education British Potato Council Horticultural Development Council Home Grown Cereals Authority Milk Development Council All Saints Educational Trust

The section also received assistance from British Sugar plc, Cadbury Schweppes, H J Heinz, Kellogg Company of Great Britain, Kraft Foods UK, Meat & Livestock Commission, Nestlé UK Ltd, RHM Technology Limited, The Ryvita Company, Tate and Lyle Sugar, Unilever.

Omega 3

Fish oils are big business. And is a field of wook in which the BNF is heavily involved. It is claimed that Omega 3 improves intelligence especially in children. The market for such supplements is around £116 million per annum in the UK. This is despite the lack of any scientific evident that omega 3 improves brain function. What trials have taken place have involved children with specific difficulties: ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Dr Alex Richardson, a senior research fellow at Oxford University and an authority on nutrition and the brain is sceptical about the claims and feels that commercial companies have hijacked the results of what testing has been carried out. In one example, Equazen - the manufacturer of eye q fish-oil supplements - was approached by Durham LEA and asked if it would donate £1m-worth of capsules to be given to 5,000 school-age children in the run-up to their GCSEs. Their performance will be measured against what it might theoretically have been without the omega 3. Again, there is no control group, no placebo and no double-blind component. Despite such flaws, these 'trials' were widely reported, invariably mentioning the eye q brand and declaring fish oil a wonder supplement. In December last year, Equazen was sold to the Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Galenica, making a reported £10m-£20m for its chief executive Adam Kelliher. Frost & Sullivan, the global research consultancy, estimates that the market for omega-3 products will grow by around 8% per annum until 2010. Datamonitor, another research company, identifies it as one of the 'big four' health-and-wellness trends in the packaged-food industry next year. At the present time, 25 European governments, including the UK's, are funding the Lipgene project - a five-year study examining ways of modifying foods to contain more omega 3. The British Nutrition Foundation is a partner in the Lipgene project. 'They're looking at foods we commonly consume, such as meat, milk and yoghurt,' says Dr Joanne Lunn of the BNF. 'That way, we won't have to make huge dietary shifts because, if you tell people to eat more oily fish, they won't.' Genes from long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (specifically the EPA and DHA types found in oily fish and seafood, the easiest for the body to use) are being inserted into rapeseed, a crop used in cereal feed for livestock; trials are also underway with chicken.[3]

Current role of the BNF

It is largely unclear whether the British Nutrition Foundation still plays an active role as a front group for the food industry.

BNF Member Companies

From the BNF website:[4]

BNF Council

From [7]


Chairman of Council

Scientific Governors

  • Professor S.A. Bingham, BSc MA PhD FMedSci Deputy Director, MRC Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge
  • Professor J. Blundell, BSc PhD CPsychol FBPsS Department of Psychology, University of Leeds
  • Professor A. de Looy, BSc PhD SRD Professor of Dietetics, Plymouth University
  • Professor K. Fox, PhD Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Bristol
  • Professor C.J.K. Henry BSc MSc PhD, Principal Lecturer Oxford Brookes University School of Biology
  • Professor A.A. Jackson, MA MD FRCP Professor of Human Nutrition, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton
  • Professor M. B. E. Livingstone, BEd MSc DPhil RNutr Professor of Nutrition, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster
  • Professor M.S. Losowsky, MD FRCP Emeritus Professor of Medicine, St. James's University Hospital, Leeds
  • Professor A.D.B. Malcolm, MA DPhil CBiol FIBiol FIFST Chief Executive, Institute of Biology
  • Professor J.C. Mathers, BSc PhD Professor of Human Nutrition and Director of the Human Nutrition Research Centre, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Professor T.A.B. Sanders, BSc PhD DSc Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, King's College London University
  • Professor C.M. Williams, BSc PhD Head of Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, University of Reading

Scientific Governors appointed by the Royal Society of London

Industrial Governors

General Governors

Ex-Officio Governors

Honorary President of Council:

  • Professor Dame Barbara Clayton, DBE MD PhD HonDSc FRCP Honorary Research Professor in Metabolism, University of Southampton, Honorary President, The British Nutrition Foundation

Honorary Vice-Presidents of Council:

  • Professor A. Shenkin, BSc PhD FRCP FRCPath Professor of Clinical Chemistry, University of Liverpool

Honorary Treasurer:

  • Members of the Board of Trustees

BNF Staff

From [8]


Contact, Resources, External links, Notes

British Nutrition Foundation,
High Holborn House, 52-54 High Holborn, London WC1V 6RQ, UK
Tel: 020 7404 6504
Fax: 020 7404 6747
Email: postbox@nutrition.org.uk

Resources

John Yudkin, 'Attack is the best defence', Chapter 21 in Pure, White and Deadly, Penguin, 1988.

External links

Kath Dalmeny, 'Sugar Spin', The Ecologist, Date Published: 31 October 2003

Notes

  1. ^http://www.nutrition.org.uk/bnf/corporate.htm
  2. ^http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43&sectionId=305&which=7
  3. ^http://www.nutrition.org.uk/upload/BNF%20Annual%20Report0405(5).pdf BNF 2005, Annual Report,p.16
  1. ^ See Miller et al 1998
  2. ^ BNF 2001, Annual Report,p. 8
  3. ^ http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/


  1. ↑ Cannon, G. (1987) The Politics of Food (London, Century):p. 356
  2. ↑ Cannon, G. (1987) The Politics of Food (London, Century) p. 354-362
  3. ↑ Guardian 20th August 2007 http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2149284,00.html
  4. ↑ BNF member companies, BNF website, accessed 19 Feb 2010
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