Vested interests

There’s one aspect of National Diabetes Month that no one has addressed yet. So before it comes to an end tomorrow, I want to take a second to point out the corporate sponsors that contributed to this campaign by the American Diabetes Association:

Gold’s Gym, Walgreens Co., Lubriderm®, Colgate Total®, Merisant (makers of Equal®), Roche Diabetes Care, La Quinta® Resort & Club, Catherines Plus Sizes®, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boar’s Head, Rite Aid Pharmacies, Sonus and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Is it just me, or does the majority of this list scream “conflict of interest”?

The most obvious ones being the pharmaceutical companies, of course, who have everything to gain (no pun intended) from this epidemic. But then there are the pharmacies themselves…it’s not hard to see how they’ve got a vested interest in this issue as well.

And don’t forget about Merisant. They need all the help they can get, especially since people are using less and less Equal in favor of other (albeit equally bad-for-you artificial sweeteners).

As for Catherine’s Plus Sizes, all I can do is roll my eyes. Really?  Have we given up that much?

My point here is that while I wholeheartedly agree that everyone needs to be aware of–and do something about–diabetes, it’s important to be careful about where you’re getting your advice. Because, as you can see, the supposedly cutting-edge medical establishment responsible for leading the charge against diabetes is taking money from companies that direclty benefit from you having it.

Makes you wonder whose interests they’re really looking out for…

But I can assure you that the information you get from me will always have your best interests–and your best health–at heart.