Video Shared By LA School District Features Nutritionist Teaching Kids To Be Unhealthy—Turns Out She Works For Mondelez, A Company That Makes Junk Food
LA School District shared a video on their Instagram Stories of a nutritionist telling kids that there are no "bad" or "good" foods. As it turns out, she works for Mondelez, the company responsible for making popular snacks that kids love.
A video shared by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) featured a nutritionist teaching kids not to see food choices (yes, this includes junk food) as “good” or “bad.” The school district purportedly shared the video on their social media account owned by the district’s Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity Department. Users said they got the video off the school district’s Instagram Stories, and that the original post on Instagram received a like from the department's account.
The nutritionist in question is Dr. Kera Nyemb-Diop, and screenshots of her LinkedIn bio show that she’s the Nutrition & Ingredient Researcher for Mondelez International, a large food and snack company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company owns some of the most popular snack products, including Chips Ahoy!, Oreo, Ritz, Cadbury, belVita, Post Cereals, and more. The video has received over 800,000 views on Twitter for its questionable message.
Shockingly, another woman in the video says, “The only foods that are bad for you are foods that contain allergens, poisons, and contaminants,” ignoring the fact that overconsuming foods that contain seed oils, food coloring, excessive sugar, and other additives may lead to inflammation and negative reactions.
In November 2017, a lawsuit was filed against Mondelez for falsely advertising belVita snack bars as “healthy.” Plaintiffs argued that the product was full of sugar and not “nutritious” as it claimed to be. Years later, Mondelez agreed to pay $8 million dollars in settlement to belVita consumers.
Closing Thoughts
Teaching kids that there aren’t any “bad” foods only teaches them to consume whatever they want, whenever they want. This kind of logic is unhealthy, especially when candies, chips, cereals, and other snacks contain additives and food colorings that are so bad they're banned in other countries. Artificial food dyes have been linked to ADHD, depression, anxiety, hives, asthma, and even tumors. The effects of high sugar intake include high blood pressure, diabetes, weight gain, inflammation, and fatty liver disease. It’s time we start paying attention to what the public education system is teaching our kids if we want to keep them safe and healthy.
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