Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The head of the obesity programme at the world’s largest philanthropic organisation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, works as a paid adviser to chocolate maker Ferrero, prompting criticism from public health experts.
Professor Arne Astrup, the executive in charge of obesity and nutritional sciences at the foundation, has also disclosed advisory work for food companies including McDonald’s, McCain Foods and Nestlé in the past decade.
The foundation is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, which has become one of the world’s biggest pharmaceuticals groups thanks to its blockbuster weight loss and diabetes medications.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation said Astrup was “working with Ferrero in a personal capacity, and his work there is done without reference to the work of the Novo Nordisk Foundation”.
Ferrero, the world’s third-largest chocolate confectionery company, said Astrup “has shared his nutrition expertise with Ferrero as with other companies. This has included as a guest lecturer on a master’s course at our partner university and during educational sessions with our employees”.
Last year, Astrup also became mentor for a two-year project with the University of Copenhagen to overhaul the Nova classification, the widely accepted scientific framework for classifying ultra-processed food. The foundation is providing funding for the project.
“Public health policy should be based on independent science, not shaped by entities with a financial stake in diet-related diseases,” said Professor Carlos Monteiro, a Brazilian nutritional scientist and leader of the research group that originally developed the Nova classification.
He added that “the mentor of this project Arne Astrup also has serious conflicts of interest since he has been a consultant for several ultra-processed food industries”.
Katharine Jenner, director of campaign group the Obesity Health Alliance, said it was “deeply concerning when those leading efforts to redefine ultra-processed foods also have ties to the very industry that profits from them — either because they sell the food that makes us sick, or they provide the drugs that treat the sickness”.
She added that it presented a “glaring conflict of interest”.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation said the Copenhagen university project, “while funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation . . . is being carried out by independent researchers at the University of Copenhagen, not by the Novo Nordisk Foundation”.
The University of Copenhagen said all its research “is conducted in accordance with our code of conduct for responsible research. We have no reason to believe that any violations have occurred regarding this project”.
Astrup joined the foundation in 2020 and was previously in charge of the nutrition department at the University of Copenhagen.
The Nova classification of ultra-processed food has given rise to a wave of new research into the links between diet and diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
It has also divided scientists, with critics arguing that its categorisation of food is too focused on how much it has been processed, without taking sufficient account of factors such as nutritional content.
“We are at risk of demonising healthy foods such as some types of cereals that you cannot make at home but are packed with whole grains and fibres,” Astrup wrote in a post on the foundation’s website last month.
Ninety nutritionists and public health experts last month wrote an open letter to the foundation and the university, arguing it was “deeply problematic” that a company that derived profits from diet-related diseases was funding a project that sought to redefine UPFs.
“When a foundation with such financial ties funds a project that seeks to revise an internationally recognised classification of food processing, it raises concerns about whether the primary goal is scientific advancement or corporate influence,” the letter said.
“We do not see a conflict of interest,” the foundation said. “We are supporting a public research project that can hopefully help create new knowledge about food and health and enable consumers to make healthy choices.”
Additional reporting by Hannah Kuchler
