Coca-Cola took control of health research in exchange for funding, according to a health journal

Coca-Cola has been allowed to influence research funded under agreements with several public universities, according to a report published Wednesday in the Journal of Public Health Policy.

On the basis of requests made under the Information Act, Cambridge University researchers identified more than 87,000 pages of documents, including five agreements between Coca-Cola and American and Canadian universities. The provisions granted Coca-Cola the right to review research prior to publication. It was also allowed to control the data and to disclose the results of any study.

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The universities involved were Louisiana State University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Toronto and the University of Washington.

Although they have the power to prevent publication, the researchers in the study found no tangible proof of Coca-Cola's exercise of this right. However, the FOIA documents collected included several deletions, making the final conclusion difficult.

Researchers worry about the consequences of an early termination of company-funded public health research, saying it could prevent the release of critical health information to the public. The results also corroborate concerns expressed by nutrition experts that the food industry could follow in the footsteps of the tobacco industry by shaping research to its advantage.

"These contracts suggest that Coke wanted to be able to bury the funded research that could harm its image or its profits," said Gary Ruskin, co-director of the American company Right to Know, in a press release.

"With the power to deceive positive results and bury negative results, the" science "funded by Coca-Cola seems a little less than science and looks more like a public relations exercise."

The beverage company has been trying to influence the CDC on diet and obesity issues by encouraging it to stop blaming sugary drinks, POLITICO said in January. It was also discovered that Coca-Cola had spearheaded the efforts of other American junk food companies such as PepsiCo, Nestle and McDonald's to influence Chinese obesity policy through the intermediary of the US government. a non-profit group, also announced CNBC in January.

"Corporate social responsibility has to be more than just websites stating progressive policies ignored," said Sarah Steele, the study's lead author, in the press release.

Coca-Cola said it has changed its policies and no longer supports this type of research.

"We agree that research and transparency and integrity are important. As a result, since 2016, The Coca-Cola Company has not independently funded research on health and wellness issues in accordance with research guidelines published on our website since then. Said Coca-Cola in a statement. declaration.

All previous research that she has sponsored must adhere to her transparency guidelines, which notably prohibit the company from preventing the publication of search results.