ADA Whores for another Sponsor

One of the ADA's shills brought it to my attention the "new partnership between the American Diabetes Association and V8 100% Vegetable Juice to help Americans bridge the vegetable consumption gap."

Campbell Soup is one of the many food companies who sell primarily starchy, salty foods that are are listed as The American Diabetes Association's corporate "friends" on the ADA site here. Do take a look. If you ever wondered why the ADA promotes questionable oral drugs, high carb foods, and a visit to the gym as the only way to treat Type 2 diabetes, a look at its big donors will answer your question.

So now it seems that the ADA has decided to promote a big donor's V8 juice as a suitable "vegetable" for people with diabetes

And what a vegetable it is! One 11.5 ounce bottle--the size you usually see sold--contains 15 grams of carbohydrate. Not only that, but if you do the math you'll see that the "fiber" listed on their label has already been deducted from the carb count. Though the way they list the fiber using the deceptive, European label style, makes it look like you could deduct them. Don't. They're all in the container. (Verify this using the Hidden Carb Calculator)

What do you get for your 15 grams of carbs? Not much. Pureed vegetables that have been heated and processed so that they've lost many of the original nutrients they started out with. They are very likely to have had the original vitamins replaced with imported Chinese vitamin supplements. Extra salt. Preservatives. And, of course, more blood glucose than you'd get in an entire package of Spinach, a pound of green beans, three artichokes, two zucchinis, etc.

It's worth noting that this ADA partnership announcement comes just as Coca Cola has taken over the distribution of V8. If you'll remember, recent studies have shown that drinking as few as 2 cans of either regular or diet coke doubles the risk of kidney failure. But you didn't hear that from the ADA, despite the fact that people with diabetes are the most vulnerable to kidney failure. Instead the ADA teams up with the company distributing yet another questionable food substitute.

Finally, it's worth noting that Campbell's markets a whole line of V8 branded juices, many of which are fruit flavored drinks that have 26 grams of carbs in a 12 ounce bottle. With the ADA's "V8" is good for you campaign, it's likely many unsophisticated people with diabetes will conclude that these very high carb V8 branded juices are good for them, too.

Here's the question of the day

Why, with the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been raised by the ADA over the past decades supposedly to help people with diabetes, does the average person with diabetes still not know that it is the carbohydrates they eat at meal times that raise their blood sugar? Or that lowering the amount of carbs they eat at meals could lower their blood sugar?

How much would it have cost to get that message out? Or does Campbell's soup and Coke not want you to know that?

Copyright Janet Ruhl 2007. If you are NOT reading this on http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com the content has been STOLEN.