Who pays the piper?

To what extent have food manufacturers become nutrition educators simply by virtue of the products they advertise, the audiences they address and the intensity of their selling campaigns? Can the food industry do objective nutrition education? Should the food industry be engaged in nutrition education at all? Interest in nutrition education has increased over the last decade, and these questions have become important in both developed and developing countries. The following review attempts to draw some lessons from the United States experience with commercial nutrition education, in the hope that they may prove instructive for nations where food industry educational activities are as yet minimal.