Over at Childhood Obesity News, Dr. Robert Pretlow writes about the journal Childhood Obesity, which launched in September with a luminous editorial board and a grant from the Kellogg's Foundation. 

The editorial board includes Kelly Brownell of Yale, David Heber of UCLA, David Ludwig oof Children's Hospital Boston, and Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating." 

According to a press release from publisher Mary Ann Liebert, "Childhood Obesity is being launched with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to ensure that it is accessible as widely as possible, and to provide a framework that addresses the social and environmental conditions that influence opportunities for children to have access to healthy, affordable food and safe places to play and be physically active."

Dunno about you, but that's sounds not exactly straightforward. Never mind the pabulum after the "and," seemingly calculated to induce thick eye glaze. (And if so, well played!) The first part of that sentence, fairly restated, says they took the grant from the cereal maker's ward because without it, their articles might not find their audience. Perhaps that's so, but at what cost to credibility?

That's Pretlow's point: How can an peer-review journal maintain its independence with such funding? Roughly two-thirds of the foundation's assets are in the form of Kellogg's stock, which certainly appears to tie its fortunes to Kellogg's products, said Pretlow, who acknowledges that an article he submitted was rejected.

He adds that in addition to all the well-known names on the editorial board,  the foundation's vice president for programs, Gail C. Christopher, also has a seat. And why not? If I paid for a publication, I'd want a voice in what it published — and what it chose not to publish — too. 

I'm acquainted with a couple of the board's members and I'm going to ask them what they think of this; maybe it's common, or no big deal. If I get any responses, I'll report them. I'm also checking in with the publisher.