Executive Vice President, Cna Financial
Search every verified John Mckenna interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2019 talk titled "Can You Trust What You Are Eating? Part 1 of 2," John McKenna, who holds a science degree and a medical degree and identifies himself as a concerned parent, discussed his views on nutrition and the food industry. McKenna argued that fructose is harmful and that animal fat does not cause heart disease, stating that "the scientific consensus in 2014 confirms this definitively." He criticized modern dwarf wheat, claiming it has increased starch and gluten content that contributes to gluten intolerance and celiac disease. McKenna also questioned the motives behind dietary guidelines, asserting that the USDA represents farmers and food producers rather than health interests, and described the food pyramid as "fundamentally flawed." McKenna further alleged that industry influence undermines nutritional science and public health advice. He stated that he disregards research sponsored by private companies like Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola, and claimed that CEOs of major food companies pressured the WHO to remove advice to cut sugar. He described the British Nutrition Foundation, which he said is headed by a former CEO of Tate & Lyle, as "scandalous," adding that "the fox is in charge of the henhouse." McKenna also noted that 66 percent of U.S. medical schools have shares in pharmaceutical companies, and characterized the system as "broken."
“When you're reading a research article on nutrition the first thing that I look at is who has sponsored it who is paid for it and if it's public money like the NIH in the United States, I'll read the article. If it's sponsored by a private company like Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola, then I'm not going to read the article no...”
“The new dwarf wheat has about 10 times the yield compared to the wheat I grew up with, with massively increased starch and gluten content, which is causing an epidemic of gluten intolerance and celiac disease, especially among Celtic people.”
“The farmers are very happy because the dwarf wheat is easy to harvest, seed producers are happy, chemical companies like Monsanto are delighted because they've genetically modified the plant to tolerate Roundup, so they can spray as much as they like, and politicians are happy because people have more food.”
“The USDA is the Department of Agriculture, not a health body; it represents farmers and food producers. So why is somebody who's representing food producers telling us what to eat? That’s not right.”
“The CEOs of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and other major food companies pressured the WHO to remove advice to cut sugar from the diet, threatening to pull funding. This is a crime against humanity.”
“The British Nutrition Foundation, which is supposed to issue objective statements based on evidence, is headed by a former CEO of Tate & Lyle, a sugar company. That’s scandalous. The fox is in charge of the henhouse.”
“Sixty-six percent of medical schools in the United States have shares in pharmaceutical companies. When I studied medicine, nutrition and probiotics were never mentioned. This is a broken system where medical research is heavily influenced by industry.”
“The food pyramid is fundamentally flawed. Primitive people like the Fulani, Masai, Inuit, and Sami survive healthily without cereals, living on protein and fat. Telling people to eat more cereals and starch is ludicrous in the face of an obesity epidemic.”
“Animal fat does not cause heart disease. Despite reduced fat in diets, heart disease rates remain unchanged. The scientific consensus in 2014 confirms this definitively.”
“The government’s response to the sugar epidemic, such as imposing a sugar tax, doesn’t make sense. What Coca-Cola has done to reduce sugar by substituting with stevia was at the behest of investors, not governments or health bodies, because food manufacturers don’t listen to these bodies but they do listen to investors...”
Experiments with fructose that John Yadkin conducted on a number of species of animal and in a number of impoverished ...
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