In the 1960s, the sugar industry funded research that downplayed the risks of sugar and highlighted the hazards of fat, according to a newly published article in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The article draws on internal documents to show that an industry group called the Sugar Research Foundation wanted to "refute" concerns about sugar's possible role in heart disease. The SRF then sponsored research by Harvard scientists that did just that. The result was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1967, with no disclosure of the sugar industry funding.
For one thing, there's motivation and intent. In 1954, the researchers note, the president of the SRF gave a speech describing a great business opportunity.
If Americans could be persuaded to eat a lower-fat diet — for the sake of their health — they would need to replace that fat with something else. America's per capita sugar consumption could go up by a third.
The next year, after several scientific articles were published suggesting a link between sucrose and coronary heart disease, the SRF approved the literature-review project. It wound up paying approximately $50,000 in today's dollars for the research.
One of the researchers was the chairman of Harvard's Public Health Nutrition Department — and an ad hoc member of SRF's board.
The documents in question are five decades old, but the larger issue is of the moment, as Marion Nestle notes in a commentary in the same issue of JAMA Internal Medicine:
"Is it really true that food companies deliberately set out to manipulate research in their favor? Yes, it is, and the practice continues. In 2015, the New York Times obtained emails revealing Coca-Cola's cozy relationships with sponsored researchers who were conducting studies aimed at minimizing the effects of sugary drinks on obesity. Even more recently, the Associated Press obtained emails showing how a candy trade association funded and influenced studies to show that children who eat sweets have healthier body weights than those who do not."DYI Comments: Today 9.3% of our population is diabetic. A big reason for its rise is the massive increase in consumption of sugar and all of its derivatives(high fructose corn syrup etc.) Along with refined carbohydrates such as white flower, pastas, pastries, snack foods, pizza etc., that metabolizes as if it is sugar. It is no wonder obesity is off the charts. Below is a chart from 2012 showing the obesity percentages by race. Except for Asians the remaining groups is totally unacceptable.
Americans Are Becoming Too Fat to Serve in the Army
The biggest threat to America's national security may not be nuclear weapons or terrorist organizations, but its citizens' unhealthy diets.
"Just under three in 10 young people [ages] 17 to 24 can join the Army today"
– and the other armed services for that matter – and the single biggest disqualifier is obesity," Major General Allen Batschelet of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command told CNN. "Ten percent of them are obese and unfit to the point that they can't join the service. It's really very worrisome."
DYI Continues: On a personal note this blogger who is 62 years old has now been on a very low carb diet for 3 or 4 years the weight has all come off and has remained off and I no longer require blood pressure medication. Plus and it is a big plus - I NEVER GO HUNGRY! I have energy to burn. I consume around 75% fats, 20% proteins, and way less than 5% carbs. All of my health markers improved passing all of our health standards at work driving down significantly the cost of my health insurance.
The Diet Doctor is an excellent link to get you started if you are interested.
DYI
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