Diabetes UK defends sponsorship deal with Britvic

DCUK NewsBot

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The charity Diabetes UK has said its recently announced sponsorship deal with soft drinks company Britvic was subject to "rigorous scrutiny" following criticism. Last week the charity announced that it had signed a £500,000, three-year partnership deal with Britvic, a company that manufactures drinks such as Tango and J2O. The deal involves helping "Britvic employees to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes and support children with type 1 diabetes and their families so that they thrive at school," according to Diabetes UK. Several health campaigners have slammed the news, particularly because high sugary drink consumption is a salient cause of childhood obesity and the sudden increase in type 2 diabetes among young people. But Diabetes UK has said it stands by its decision as the money provided by Britvic will be spent on supporting children in school who have type 1 diabetes. The charity's chief executive Chris Askew said: "Any partnership we enter into - including with the food and drink industry - only happens if we truly believe it will bring about positive change, and we firmly believe our partnership with Britvic will do just that. "Every Diabetes UK partnership is subject to rigorous scrutiny to ensure the partners we work with share our ambitions." It is not believed that the partnership includes any product endorsement or marketing for the soft drinks giant.

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Fleur Brown

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Don't have diabetes
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I do not have diabetes
I am a clinical nutritionist and see many patients in my clinic with T2 diabetes. I am appalled with the Britvic sponsorship you have entered into - you say you are doing this to support their employees who have diabetes and to help children with Type 1 diabetes but how could you sell your soul and get funding from a manufacturer of sugary fizzy drinks, squashes and diet drinks (filled with the horrific aspartamane) ? This is a pure disgrace and my opinion of your organisation has radically changed due to this. Surely you could have found funding from a company who does not produce such awful drinks that undoubtedly lead to many kids becoming diabetic and many adults becomming pre-diabetic or diabetic. Driven by money no doubt and nothing else. Disgraceful !
 

Guzzler

Master
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Type 2
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Diet only
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Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
I am a clinical nutritionist and see many patients in my clinic with T2 diabetes. I am appalled with the Britvic sponsorship you have entered into - you say you are doing this to support their employees who have diabetes and to help children with Type 1 diabetes but how could you sell your soul and get funding from a manufacturer of sugary fizzy drinks, squashes and diet drinks (filled with the horrific aspartamane) ? This is a pure disgrace and my opinion of your organisation has radically changed due to this. Surely you could have found funding from a company who does not produce such awful drinks that undoubtedly lead to many kids becoming diabetic and many adults becomming pre-diabetic or diabetic. Driven by money no doubt and nothing else. Disgraceful !

Are you addressing your comment to DCUK or Diabetes UK. Org? Two very different entities.
 

Guzzler

Master
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10,577
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Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
Just one point. While no one in their right mind would deny T1 children and their peers education and support what about the growing number of children now being diagnosed with T2? And when I say children and T2 in the same sentence let me be clear here, I recently listened to a podcast featuring as guest Ivor Cummins who said that a child in US has been diagnosed with full blown T2, that child being two and a half years old.
 

desidiabulum

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If Diabetes UK's advice on diet was less outrageous one might believe for a second or two that they subject their commercial links to 'rigorous scrutiny' and are not influenced by them. Actually I think the time really has come when the burden of proof from now on lies with Diabetes UK to demonstrate that they are not utterly compromised by their links to so many food and drink firms. They need to stop being treated as if they are the champions and representatives of diabetics. For the moment, it seems obvious to me that they are our enemy.
 

Robbity

Expert
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6,683
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
... I am appalled with the Britvic sponsorship you have entered into ....

You're more than welcome to have a good old rant here, but please be aware that we're not the culprits here - that sponsorship deal is the doing of DIABETES.UK and not DIABETES.CO.UK, so you really need to pop over to their forum instead to give them a piece of you mind.
Robbity
 

Geordie_P

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849
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Whatever next? "The British Lung Cancer Foundation is proud to announce it's partnership with Philip Morris Tobacco..."