Coca-Cola funded group set up to promote “energy balance” is disbanded

A group that was set up to promote debate about “energy balance” in an effort to combat obesity has closed down after it was found that its funder, Coca-Cola, had a hand in some of its decision making.

The Global Energy Balance Network was set up in 2014, but on 30 November a message on the network’s website (https://gebn.org) said that it was “discontinuing operations due to resource limitations,” with immediate effect.

James O Hill, professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado and who led the group, told The BMJ that a $1m (£0.7m; …