this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
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Elizabeth Hanna says she was fired by the American Diabetes Association after refusing to approve recipes heaped with the additive made by a major donor

Elizabeth Hanna had a simple job: help people with diabetes figure out what to eat. Anyone with common sense knows this should probably not entail foods that might increase people’s risk of getting diabetes. But that’s not necessarily the thinking at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the world’s leading diabetes research and patient advocacy group, which also receives millions of dollars from sponsors in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural industries.

According to a lawsuit Hanna recently filed against the ADA, the organization – which endorses recipes and food plans on its website and on the websites of “partner” food brands – tried to get her to greenlight recipes that she believed flew in the face of the ADA’s mission. These included recipes like a “cucumber and onion salad” made with a third of a cup of Splenda granulated artificial sweetener, “autumnal sheet-pan veggies” with a quarter cup of Splenda monk fruit sweetener and a “cranberry almond spinach salad” with a quarter cup of Splenda monkfruit sweetener.

Guess which company gave more than $1m to the ADA in 2022? Splenda.

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[–] scytale@lemm.ee 106 points 7 months ago (8 children)

Who even puts a sweetener in a salad?

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 42 points 7 months ago

This really feels like those awful receipe books that companies put out in the 1950s and 1960s. Like Jello salads and such. This used to be a pretty common thing and it's a bit surprising to see it appear again.

[–] InquisitiveApathy@lemm.ee 30 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It's not uncommon for a dressing to have sugar in it I guess. I'll put maybe a teaspoon of sugar in a homemade vinaigrette sometimes, but that's all. A third of a cup sounds disgusting.

[–] qupada@kbin.social 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I was about to say. A third of a cup is more than the ENTIRE VOLUME OF DRESSING I'd consider putting in a salad... that would serve four people.

Maybe a teaspoon of sugar to balance the acidic flavours in the dressing. Maybe.

Looking at that recipe, it reads like "quick pickles" which are normally made with a hot mixture of white vinegar and sugar (and admittedly quite a lot of sugar), but in those the critical step is you drain the pickled vegetables before serving, so the actual amount of sugar retained by the food is still relatively low. No mention of draining before serving here though, so perhaps it is just artificially-sweetened cucumber and vinegar soup? Blergh.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

It's common to add sugar to quick pickles? Unless you're canning them and need the sweetener to temper the overwhelming flavor of the massive amount of vinegar required to fend off botulism.

Granted, I'm all about the half-sour pickles, which use salt not vinegar, like so: https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/half-sour-pickles-5/

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[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

(Yes this is a real thing)

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 6 points 7 months ago

Grandma has T2D for sure.

[–] Rubanski@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

A pinch of sugar helps countering acidic flavors from eg tomatoes. It rounds the flavor. ⅓ cup is insanity tho

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[–] liquidparasyte@pawb.social 96 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Conspiracy aside, who the fuck would put a quarter cup of sugar-anything in a 'healthy' vegetable dish? Why is there added sugar* at all??

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

And it's 600 times sweeter than sugar?

Edit: that's pure sucralose, didn't realize Splenda was a specific formulation.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 15 points 7 months ago

Sucralose is, splenda has fillers to make it the same as sugar.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

The base sweetener is, but the product "Splenda" is basically diluted with filler to make it as sweet as sugar.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The salads I kind of understand because sweet dressing is a thing, but sweetened roasted veggies? 🤢

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 months ago (4 children)

C'mon that's bullshit. 1/3 a cup of Splenda in a salad? If I said 1/3 a cup of sugar? Jesus Christ what are these recipes?! Lol

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[–] lost_tortie@lemmy.world 46 points 7 months ago (2 children)

These included recipes like a “cucumber and onion salad” made with a third of a cup of Splenda granulated artificial sweetener, “autumnal sheet-pan veggies” with a quarter cup of Splenda monk fruit sweetener and a “cranberry almond spinach salad” with a quarter cup of Splenda monkfruit sweetener.

[–] sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz 17 points 7 months ago

It never ceased to amaze me how Schitt's Creek gifs always 100% encapsulate my feelings every time I see them used. I can't articulate my own emotions as well as David and Alexis can for me.

[–] bluGill@kbin.social 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

none of those recipies get sugar at all in my kitchen.

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You haven't lived until you've tried them with a third a cup of Splenda.

[–] ickplant@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Gotta throw in a stick of butter for good measure.

[–] NucleusAdumbens@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

*I can't believe it's not

[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 32 points 7 months ago (1 children)

a third cup of Splenda

Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Who the fuck is putting more than a spoonful of Splenda in anything?!

[–] RosalieMorgan@kbin.social 29 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Many Splenda products are mixed with filler, some are mostly maltodextrin, some are even mixed with regular sugar, so that they can be more easily measured.

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Xylitol

Does this sweetener trigger an insulin response?
It is too sweet but Splenda is better than sugar. By far

[–] autumn_rain@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Xylitol is deadly poisonous to dogs and cats.

[–] aidan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Are you sure its not just that they have a risk of far overeating it and killing themselves with diarrhea

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago

Ack. I hate sweet salad dressing, think that just from a culinary standpoint she was right to push back on these. Training your palate to enjoy other flavors would go a long way to getting a lower sugar diet.

I also fucking hate the taste of monkfruit and stevia, they are most foul.

But if her argument is that the sweet tasting non caloric sweeteners directly promote diabetes, like they act like sugar, I think this has been disproven several times over.

[–] oDDmON@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (2 children)

But as someone who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three years ago, I can attest that the dietary and medicinal guidance one gets from doctors and the ADA can be worse than the condition. The result is what the former head of the World Health Organization has called “a slow-motion disaster”, that led to the deaths of 2 million people in 2019.

As someone under the treatment of American medicine for decades, I have to agree; doctors don’t know everything.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

They aren't supposed to, which is why things like the ADA exist. It's sad that there appears to have been an industry takeover of it.

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[–] tearsintherain@leminal.space 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

This is another example of greed/capitalism/failure of institutions. I firmly believe this type of behavior is what leads to people losing trust in institutions and science. Why people turn to conspiracy theories and all natural anti-vaxx terrain.

Low-carb diets work. Why does the American Diabetes Association push insulin instead? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/17/ada-american-diabetes-association-big-pharma

PS, from $1 to oligopolies.

[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago (7 children)

...are you seriously asking why the ADA advises insulin use for patients with diabetes

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[–] signalsayge@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Some people don't even make insulin on their own... they sorta have to use insulin.

A low-carb diet is not going to miracle cure someone's defective pancreas.

[–] tearsintherain@leminal.space 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yes, but that's not what the piece is talking about either. We've gone from stick to the facts, to while I have you here, let me interest you in this product...

There is a very real issue of not focusing on preventative measure and education and instead raking it in by way of hocking products. Conflict of interest is a real thing and not much money to be made by way of education and preventative teachings. But thats what gives openings to Joe Rogan types instead to hock their teachings.

[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (11 children)

For those confused about why Splenda is problematic, it has less than a third of the calories as Cane Sugar. So when you add a lot of it to a recipe it can be as bad as adding some sugar.

I'm sure Elizabeth Hanna approved some use cases for Splenda, but 1/3 of a cup for a cucumber salad is silly.

[–] tabris@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago

Adding sugar or sweetener to a salad is absolutely insane to me. I think the most sweetness I've ever added to a salad is fresh lemon juice in the dressing, but actual sugar/sweetener?

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[–] thesilverpig@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm on keto so I use the occasional stevia or monk-fruit sweetener when I'm craving something sweet, and the fact that she was fired for not approving those recipes make the sweeteners feel much more suss. And they were already kind of suss to begin with, so like... what are they not telling us ?

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 9 points 7 months ago

I'm mostly amazed at the amount! I'm in the same boat as you. I very rarely use it, but when I do, I use like a few granules in my hand because it's so sweet.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

As a type 2 diabetic myself having managed my condition well now for over a decade, there's no other way to put this: The ADA's guidelines and recommendations are fucking garbage. And advice I've received from doctors hasn't been much better, since they're generally following the aforementioned guidelines.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It seems the WHO guidelines are not without controversy, they relied on observational studies that are extremely vulnerable to reverse causation. The few RCTs that have been done indicate that sweeteners work just fine, but the WHO thought they weren't long enough.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2023/06/06/who-guidelines-non-sugar-sweeteners/

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj-2023-075293

Although, that aside, those recipes sound disgusting.

[–] ericbomb@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

almost gags after tasting them

"Uhh yeah guys. Totally tastes great, but those pesky who guidelines..."

[–] Goodtoknow@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 months ago

Reminds me of Brawndo in Idiocracy simply buying the FDA and FCC

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