Coke For Weight Loss?

No, not THAT kind of coke.  I saw this article in Fortune about Coca Cola funding a study to show that weight loss is about exercise and not food.  The link is here but it's a short article, so I've copied and pasted it below.  I've added my comments in purple.

Coke is funding scientists with a controversial weight loss message

They say weight loss is more about exercise and less about your diet.

Coca-Cola is providing millions of dollars in funding for a non-profit group that argues weight-conscious Americans should be paying more attention to exercise and less attention to their diet, The New York Times reports.  This is why you should always, always, always look into who is paying for a particular study.  They aren't often completely unbiased.  They are looking for specific results so they will engineer a study to get it.  

“Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, ‘Oh they’re eating too much, eating too much, eating too much’ — blaming fast food, blaming sugary drinks and so on,” says Steven N. Blair, vice president of the group, known as the Global Energy Balance Network, in a video. “And there’s really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.” This is actually just a bold faced lie.  It's not just that people are eating too much, it's WHAT they're eating.  And as far as compelling evidence goes... Try this study on for size here.  This is a metadata study meaning it's a STUDY OF STUDIES.  To lose weight, food is the biggest piece of it.  

Two universities that employ leaders of the Global Energy Balance Network told the Times that Coca-Cola had donated $1.5 million last year to start the organization, and that the company had provided close to $4 million in funding for other projects spearheaded by two members from the group.  That's a lot of money to throw in there to get your way.  

Health experts are calling Coca-Cola’s motives into question, especially in alongstanding era of declining soda sales.

“The Global Energy Balance Network is nothing but a front group for Coca-Cola,” Marion Nestle, author of the book Soda Politics and a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, told the Times. “Coca-Cola’s agenda here is very clear: Get these researchers to confuse the science and deflect attention from dietary intake.” Eh.  She obviously isn't in favor of soda companies based on her book but she does have good credential so this one could go either way.  

This isn’t the first time Coca-Cola has tried to popularize the idea that its products are healthier than believed. In February, it was reported that fitness and nutrition experts wrote Coke-endorsed online pieces for American Hearth Month arguing that a mini-can of Coke could be a healthy treat. Last year, the American Beverage Association, which represents Coke and Pepsi, publishedfindings of a study that suggested diet soda could aid in weight loss, a result that’s been refuted elsewhere.  I won't get into all the bad stuff diet soda can do to you.  I think we all know that calorie wise, it's better but there are a lot of other effects of aspertame that aren't healthy.  

My personal view on this is that people should exercise for their health and it can aid in weight loss.  However, I'm of the opinion that food is 80% of the battle for weight loss and that's where the focus should be if your main goal is lowering the number on the scale.