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Steph Grasso, a registered dietitian from Oakton, Va., used the hashtag and told her 2.2 million followers on TikTok that the WHO warnings about artificial sweeteners were "clickbait" based on "low-quality science."
Another dietitian, Cara Harbstreet of Kansas City, reassured her Instagram followers not to worry about "fear mongering headlines" about aspartame because "the evidence doesn't suggest there's a reason for concern."
In a third video, Mary Ellen Phipps, a Houston-area dietitian who specializes in diabetes care, sipped from a glass of soda and told her Instagram viewers that artificial sweeteners "satisfy the desire for sweetness" without affecting blood sugar or insulin levels.
What these dietitians didn't make clear was that they were paid to post the videos by American Beverage, a trade and lobbying group representing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other companies.
In all, at least 35 posts from a dozen health professionals were part of the coordinated campaign by American Beverage. The trade group paid an undisclosed amount to 10 registered dietitians, as well as a physician and a fitness influencer, to use their social media accounts to help blunt the WHO's claims that aspartame, a mainstay of Diet Coke and other sodas, is ineffective for weight loss and "possibly carcinogenic."
Comment: Notably there's no mention of the significant increase in vaccines children in the developed world suffer; nor is there any thought given to society, family, people's mental health, and living standards. all of which are likely to have a significant impact on one's health, and have, overall, deteriorated rapidly in the last few decades.