A nutrition scientist who will soon be advising a White House conference on nutrition released a study last year claiming that candy such as Reese’s is actually healthier for people to eat than meat such as beef.
As reported by The Daily Caller, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist and dean at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He has written over 450 publications on the subject and is the co-chair of the “Informing the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health” task force. Mozaffarian had previously demanded that the White House hold another such conference, after the last one was hosted in 1969; the event will take place in September.
Mozaffarian is perhaps most well-known for his own “Food Compass” that he released in 2021, which claims to objectively rate thousands of foods and beverages on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher ratings corresponding to higher nutritional value.
Some have pointed out the numerous clear inconsistencies in the scale, which included giving the candy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups a score of 30, compared to just 26 for ground beef. The sugary cereal Lucky Charms has a score of 69, while grilled chicken is given a rating of 61. And while school lunch pepperoni pizza is rated with a 48, an egg fried with cooking spray is given only 41.
Also noteworthy is Mozaffarian’s financial connection to billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates; the scientist has received over $6 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spanning across four different projects. Noticeably, the Gates’ insistence that everyone eat artificial meat is reflected in Mozaffarian’s Food Compass, with artificial meat consistently given high ratings ranging from 31 to 69.