Paid "Fitfluencers" Are Selling You Out
Washington Post exposes million-plus follower health influencers and registered dietitians who lie to you on behalf of big food consortia
Did you see the hashtag #safetyofaspartame? It might have been hard to miss, since a large number of multi-million-follower health experts, or as Robert Roy Britt calls them, “fitfluencers,” publicized it in the wake of the World Health Organization (WHO) warnings about the potential cancer-causing effects of aspartame. Aspartame is used in soft drinks and other cold foods.
A friend and reader sent me a link to an in-depth Washington Post report about registered dietitians who are paid by food companies to promote foods online. The September 13 in-depth dive detailed a social media hashtag, #safetyofaspartame. These health professionals with big social media followings created videos and other digital media to call warnings about aspartame or other artificial sweeteners “clickbait.” They said the warnings are “based on junk science.”
I’m not a registered dietitian, but I have a friend who is one. She doesn’t have social media influencer status or “millions of followers.” She has never encouraged the use of any artificial sweetener. Why?
Because they are horrible for you. A little Dum-Dum pop or a spoon of table sugar is better for non-diabetics than any soda or other drink loaded with aspartame or sucralose or any of the gut-wrenching sugar alcohols.
According to the Post, as part of the paid promotion, Mary Ellen Phipps, a dietitian from Houston, sipped from a glass of soda and told her millions of Instagram followers that “artificial sweeteners satisfy the taste for sweetness without affecting blood sugar or insulin levels.”
This woman who has a degree in nutrition is supposed to specialize in diabetes care. Her statements are untrue. Two of the most common artificial sweeteners absolutely affect blood sugar and insulin levels.
According to a Johns Hopkins study, both saccharin and sucralose have been found to increase blood sugar or glucose levels.
What’s more, just like regular sugar in any form, artificial sweeteners are addictive. Many studies have found that not only do artificial sweeteners not promote weight loss, they are associated with weight gain among people who consume them daily.
Is this another case of Doctors Smoke Camels?
Absolutely.
According to WaPo’s investigation, a group of 35 dietitians and “fitfluencers” promoted the safety and effectiveness of aspartame as part of an official campaign sponsored by American Beverage, a group that represents Coca Cola, PepsiCo, and other soft drink/snack/beverage companies. Fewer than a third of the paid influencers disclosed that this association paid them to make and post videos about the “safety of aspartame.”
WaPo surveyed 68 dietitians with over 10,000 social media followers on TikTok or Instagram and found that, over the past year, about half of them had promoted processed foods, beverages, or nutritional supplements to their collective group of 11 million followers.
Here are a few of the examples of industry-sponsored registered dietitian influencer marketing that WaPo uncovered:
Lindsay Pleskot from Vancouver posted videos where she ate ice cream and peanut butter cups, saying “denying yourself treats makes craving worse.”
This unpaid, non-registered non-dietitian can tell you that eating the ice cream or candy (I ate peanut butter cups every night for over a year and slowly gained weight until I realized the harm I was doing to myself and my health) will not reduce cravings.
Lindsay was paid to write her in-depth pro-sugar postings by the Canadian Sugar Institute.
Jenn Messina of North Vancouver posted an Instagram video where she put a lollipop on a dinner plate. This was intended to “help kids develop healthier relationships with food.” She referred to dinners as “gross” and used hash tags like #antidietapproach and #bodypositiveparenting.
What would you think if one of these women put up a video with the hashtag #kidfriendlybooze or #kidfriendlycigs?
Most people know from experience that sugar has addictive qualities that are similar to cocaine, nicotine, and other openly-acknowledged addictive substances. A number of studies have indicated that sugar does have addiction potential.
I gave up my nightly peanut butter cups shortly after viewing Australian filmmaker Damon Gameau’s That Sugar Film.
Registered dietitians like my friend Diane who aren’t paid by American Beverage or the Canadian Sugar Institute, and non-registered, non-paid, non-dietitians like me will tell you: sugar is able to be tolerated and digested when you consume it along with fiber.
This is why a 90-calorie apple won’t raise a child’s blood sugar or make them “hyper,” but 90-calorie cookie will.
It’s the food matrix. Our bodies and minds are evolved to get nutrition and energy from real food. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (beans … beans … beans).
Not artificially-sweetened sodas, cookies, candy, or sugar-laden lollipops, candy bars, and tubs of ice cream.
Jenn Messina told the Washington Post she “pitches” ideas for videos to the Canadian Sugar Institute and they “approve them.”
What we eat is always our personal choice. However, we should make informed choices, not ones based on lies told to make you buy expensive processed foods. It is best to be wary when viewing social media content about diet and nutrition, especially if it tends to be something that benefits Big Food, Big Ag, and Big Chemical companies.
Look for content made by people who aren’t paid to say what these big industrial consortia want.
I am still researching the effects of artificial sweeteners. They are complex and varied, but I can say conclusively right now: the detriments of these products far outweigh their benefits. If you want something sweet: eat an orange or an apple, and have a handful of nuts.
Your body and taste buds will thank you.
Extra grossness: Jenn Messina, the influencer who tells parents to give their kids sweets, said, “If your kiddo is obsessed with sweets they likely need MORE access to sweets rather than LESS.” I’ve heard that before. This is exactly what Richard Sackler told his sales associates in the mid-2000s when seeking to increase market share, sales volume, and profits for OxyContin. By the way, I have to do an open internet search to access my Sackler OxyContin articles on Medium: paid ‘influence’ extends far. Bruce was prescribed oxycodone while in the hospital and when he told a nurse, “I am a recovering alcoholic with 27 years sobriety,” she extolled the virtues of this medication — it was difficult to avoid being sent home with a “starter” prescription for the drug.
That sugar is bad for you has been known for a very long time. William Duffy's "Sugar Blues" lays it all out...in 1976. Duffy details how even the ancients knew sugar was bad for you, down through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, to us.
Sugar is clearly a drug with addictive potential (manufactured sugar of any type, not what you'd find naturally in real food). But it's hard to get out from under it. I loved sugar all my life, and even becoming gravely sick in my 30s and learning about how bad sugar is, and getting off it entirely for a time, it's still so easy to slide back. Just like alcohol!
"[...]she extolled the virtues of this medication — it was difficult to avoid being sent home with a “starter” prescription for the drug."
I'm sure she did. The labyrinth of kickbacks and payola "medical professionals" get is a car dealership owner's dream. I'd guess she wasn't masking, either.