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Anti-obesity charity defends £50k donation from Coca-Cola 3

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 12 Jul 2011

A charity which works to reduce obesity and educate about healthy diets is standing by its decision to accept a £50,000 donation from soft drink giant Coca-Cola.

The grant, signed off earlier this year, will be used to fund a section of the National Obesity Forum’s (NOF) website dedicated to the exploration of low-calorie, artificial sweeteners.

While the NOF has been critical of the fast food industry, issuing press releases regarding sweet shops in central London and MacDonalds restaurants being linked to primary schools, the chair of the charity said it was “not unreasonable” for the Forum to be associated with Coca-Cola.

“It’s not an unreasonable thing to do. We’re not keeping it a secret. We’re not embarrassed to be associated with this,” said NOF chair Dr David Haslam.  

“If you look at diet drinks, the reduction in calories that diet drinks have induced across the population is astonishingly huge. So we’re just looking at the evidence. There are a lot of myths and misperceptions about sweeteners and we’re just looking at those and trying to straighten out one or two of the myths.

“I would strongly suggest that changing from sugar on to sweeteners is a very simple, very sustainable way of reducing calories in the long term, and that’s good for you.”

A Coca-Cola spokeswoman said: “Coca-Cola Great Britain  (CCGB) and the National Obesity Forum share a common vision to ensure healthcare professionals are provided with educational resources to better understand the science around low and no calorie sweeteners and their role in the diet.

"CCGB provided the NOF with an educational fund at the beginning of this year to support its communications regarding low and no calorie sweeteners during 2011, including a refresh of the NOF website which is planned for later in the year. There is no product endorsement as part of this affiliation."

Dr Haslam could not confirm whether the charity had applied to Coca-Cola for the grant, or whether it had been approached by the company as the partnership was brokered by another trustee, Tam Fry. He did say, however, that while the grant was restricted to this one project, the charity could conceivably consider receiving funds from Coca-Cola again in the future if the project was right. 

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