What The Industry Knew About Sugar's Health

Effects, But Didn't Tell Us

Allison, Aubrey . Weblog post. The Salt [BLOG] , Washington: NPR. Nov 21, 2017.

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ABSTRACT (ENGLISH)
Initial results showed that a high-sugar diet increased the animals' triglyceride levels, a type of fat in the blood,
through effects on the gut bacteria. The trade group says sugar consumed in moderation is part of a balanced
lifestyle, and in its statement the group says "we remain committed to supporting research to further understand
the role sugar plays in consumers' evolving eating habits." In a trade association publication last year, the
president and CEO of the Sugar Association described this recommended limit on sugar, which is part of the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as "scientifically out of bounds."

FULL TEXT
Back in the 1960s, the fact that our diets influence the risk of heart disease was still a new idea. And there was a
debate about the role of fats and the role of sugar.

The sugar industry got involved in efforts to influence this debate. "What the sugar industry successively did,"
argues Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco, "is they shifted all of the blame onto fats."

The industry's strategies were sophisticated, Glantz says, and are similar to those of the tobacco industry. For
instance, in 1965 an industry group, the Sugar Research Foundation, secretly funded a scientific review that
downplayed the evidence that linked sugar consumption to blood fat levels. The review was published in the New
England Journal of Medicine.

Now, what's come to light in an investigation published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology is that the industry
funded its own research project, but never disclosed the findings.

Glantz and his collaborators, including Cristin Kearns, an assistant professor at UCSF, evaluated a bunch of sugar
industry internal documents. Here's what they found:

Back in 1968, the Sugar Research Foundation, a predecessor to the International Sugar Research Foundation, paid
a researcher to lead a study with lab animals.

Initial results showed that a high-sugar diet increased the animals' triglyceride levels, a type of fat in the blood,
through effects on the gut bacteria. In people, high triglycerides can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The study also found that animals fed sugar had higher levels of an enzyme associated with bladder cancer in
their urine.

The study was halted before it was completed. Glantz says the researcher asked for more time to continue the
study, but the Sugar Research Foundation pulled the plug on the project.

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The Sugar Association, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., that has organizational ties to the Sugar Research
Foundation, released a statement on this new investigation.

"The study in question ended for three reasons, none of which involved potential research findings," the
association says. The statement goes on to explain that the study was over budget and delayed. "The delay
overlapped with an organizational restructuring with the Sugar Research Foundation becoming a new entity, the
International Sugar Research Foundation," the statement says.

The trade group says sugar consumed in moderation is part of a balanced lifestyle, and in its statement the group
says "we remain committed to supporting research to further understand the role sugar plays in consumers'
evolving eating habits."

But critics argue that the industry is still trying to slow down the consensus on the health risks linked to sugar
consumption. In the PLOS Biology paper, Glantz and his co-authors argue that the ongoing controversy
surrounding sugar in our diets "may be rooted in more than 60 years of food and beverage industry manipulation of
science."

In recent years, new evidence has emerged that links sugary diets to heart disease. But could we have gotten the
message sooner?

UCSF's Kearns argues that if the sugar industry had published its findings decades ago, it would have added to a
growing body of evidence. "Had this information been made public, there would have been a lot more research
scrutiny of sugar," Kearns told us.

Kearns says the sugar industry has "a lot of money and influence" and still uses its influence to cast doubt on the
recommendation to limit added sugars to no more than 10 percent of daily calories.

In a trade association publication last year, the president and CEO of the Sugar Association described this
recommended limit on sugar, which is part of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as "scientifically out of
bounds." [Copyright 2017 NPR]

DETAILS

Subject: Research; Cardiovascular disease; Sugar industry; Researchers; Consumption;

Laboratory animals

Location: San Francisco California Washington DC

Company / organization: Name: Sugar Association; NAICS: 813910; Name: New England Journal of Medicine;
NAICS: 511120

Identifier / keyword: sugar industry Sugar

Publication title: The Salt [BLOG ]; Washington

Publication year: 2017

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 Publication date: Nov 21, 2017

Publisher: NPR

Place of publication: Washington

Country of publication: United States, Washington

Publication subject: Food And Food Industries

Source type: Blogs, Podcasts, &Websites

Language of publication: English

Document type: Blogs

ProQuest document ID: 1966691319

Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1966691319?accountid=13155

Copyright: Copyright NPR Nov 21, 2017

Last updated: 2017-11-22

Database: Research Library

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