Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation

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The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation is an organization of American food and beverage companies formed with the stated aim of decreasing the number of calories in the U.S. marketplace. [1] It was announced in October 2009, by the then-CEO of Kellogg's, A. D. David Mackay. [2]

Contents

Members

The organization has 16 companies as members, including The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, General Mills, Campbell's, and ConAgra Foods. [3] The companies that constitute the Foundation's membership together produce between 20 and 25 percent of the food consumed in the United States. [4] In 2010, the organization pledged to decrease the number of calories its members collectively sold in the United States in 2012 by 1 trillion relative to a 2007 baseline. [3] The Foundation also aimed to reduce this number by 1.5 trillion by 2015. [5]

Evaluation

A 2014 study found that the pledge had led to a reduction in calories sold in the U.S. marketplace by 6.4 trillion calories, more than four times the amount they had pledged to cut by the following year. [3] [5]

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References

  1. "Overview". HWCF website. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. Glover, Katherine (6 October 2009). "Food, Soda and Candy Bar Companies Unite to Fight Obesity". CBS News. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Jalonick, Mary Clare (9 January 2014). "Study: Food industry cuts 6.4 trillion calories". USA Today. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  4. Black, Jane (17 May 2010). "Michelle Obama applauds food industry group's pledge to trim calories". Washington Post. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. 1 2 Ng, Shu Wen; Slining, Meghan M.; Popkin, Barry M. (October 2014). "The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Pledge". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 47 (4): 508–519. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2014.05.029. PMC   4171694 . PMID   25240967.