It's a conflict of interest In a global first, PepsiCo has managed to convince the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which represents 1,75,000 Indian doctors, to endorse its juice and oats products. The Indian snack foods arm of the company, Frito-Lay, has tied up with the IMA for a three-year promotional deal where the PepsiCo products will receive IMA's stamp of approval and in turn will help IMA in sponsoring events and other public forums. Representatives from both sides say the deal is non-commercial, but it raises questions about whether it is appropriate for the IMA to endorse a particular brand of food product over others. It would be one thing for the IMA to issue a general advisory recommending the consumption of fruit juices and oats to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here, however, the IMA is reportedly promoting Tropicana juice and Quaker oats. That creates a problem. The IMA has defended its decision saying that it has conducted research to prove that there are significant health benefits to drinking Tropicana juice and eating Quaker oats, but this seems doubtful. Sure, there's research to indicate that drinking fruit juices and eating oats, in general, is good for health. But those findings are not tied to particular brands and for the IMA to send out a message that one brand of juice is preferable to another is wrong. If the IMA were trying merely to advise people on leading healthy lifestyles, it could have allowed other companies manufacturing these products to receive approval as well. Instead, it has entered into an agreement with a particular brand. That this isn't the first time it has entered into such an agreement