I am quite passionate about the state of health and fitness. While I can probably talk endlessly about various topics, it is always fortuitous to come across an article that highlights exactly how an aspect of our health and wellbeing was hijacked over 50 years ago. Here is the prompt I used for ChatGPT.
“There was a JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) published in 2016 on leaked internal memos in the 60s between sugar companies revealing strategies to manipulate research data, findings report to obfuscate sugar’s role in heart disease and convince the public that it was fats and cholesterol. What were in the contents of the memos? What Harvard researchers were involved in the 60s (Keys, Stare, Hegsted)? Create bibliography of articles that covered these incidents.”
The JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) article published in 2016 shed light on a significant piece of history that involved the manipulation of public health research by the sugar industry. The study, led by Dr. Cristin Kearns and colleagues, revealed that in the 1960s, the sugar industry funded research to shift blame away from sugar and place it on fat and cholesterol as the primary causes of heart disease.
Here’s a summary of the contents of the leaked internal memos and the involvement of Harvard researchers:
Contents of the Memos
The memos uncovered by the study came from the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF), the trade association representing the sugar industry at the time. The memos, dated from the 1960s, revealed that the SRF funded research at Harvard University to influence the scientific consensus on the causes of heart disease. Specifically, they sought to downplay the role of sugar and focus the blame on fats and cholesterol.
• Research Manipulation: The memos showed that the sugar industry funded studies, such as the one led by Dr. Ancel Keys, that shifted the focus of heart disease research away from sugar to saturated fats and cholesterol, despite there being evidence linking sugar to cardiovascular diseases.
• Influence on Scientific Publications: The memos revealed that sugar industry officials worked with prominent researchers to suppress certain findings that might highlight the risks of sugar. This led to a biased scientific literature that shaped public health guidelines and dietary recommendations for decades.
• Financial Support for Key Research: The memos outlined how the SRF provided financial backing for the work of influential researchers, which helped ensure that their studies aligned with the interests of the sugar industry.
Involvement of Harvard Researchers
The three prominent Harvard researchers involved in this controversial research were:
1. Dr. Ancel Keys: A well-known nutrition scientist, Dr. Keys was a central figure in promoting the idea that dietary fats, particularly saturated fats, were the primary cause of heart disease. His research, particularly the “Seven Countries Study,” heavily influenced public health guidelines for years. Though Keys focused on fats, memos show that the sugar industry saw him as a key ally in shifting attention away from sugar’s role in heart disease.
2. Dr. Mark Hegsted: A Harvard nutritionist who was involved in the development of dietary guidelines during the 1960s and 1970s. He worked on the SRF-funded projects, which helped to steer public health guidelines in a direction that downplayed the impact of sugar and highlighted the dangers of fats.
3. Dr. Frederick Stare: A prominent nutritionist at Harvard, Dr. Stare was the founding chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was known for his close ties to the food industry and played a role in shaping early nutrition policies. Stare’s involvement in the sugar industry-funded research was significant, as he helped promote research findings that downplayed sugar’s health risks.
These researchers’ work, funded and guided by the sugar industry, helped shape decades of nutritional advice and public health policy, often obscuring the risks associated with sugar consumption.
Bibliography of Articles on the Incident
1. Kearns, C. E., Nehring, R. A., & Schmidt, L. A. (2016). Sugar industry and coronary heart disease research: A historical analysis of internal industry documents. JAMA, 315(17), 1898-1902.
This article reveals the internal memos from the Sugar Research Foundation and details the strategy used by the sugar industry to manipulate scientific research and public perception about the role of sugar in heart disease.
2. Kearns, C. E., & Alpert, J. S. (2016). How the sugar industry obstructed heart disease research. The New York Times.
This article discusses how the sugar industry worked to divert attention from sugar and promote the idea that fats were responsible for heart disease. The piece highlights the broader implications of industry-funded research on public health.
3. Taubes, G. (2017). The case against sugar. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Although this is a book rather than a journal article, Gary Taubes’ work discusses in-depth how the sugar industry has influenced scientific research over the decades. He cites the internal memos as part of the evidence of how the industry has obscured the dangers of sugar.
4. Nestle, M. (2018). Unsavoury truth: How food companies skew the science of what we eat. Basic Books.
This book by nutritionist Marion Nestle provides an extensive review of how the food industry, including the sugar industry, has manipulated research and influenced public health policy over the years.
5. Pomeranz, J. L. (2016). Sugar, the public health industry, and the politics of research. American Journal of Public Health, 106(11), 1955-1961.
This article explores the political and economic pressures that have shaped nutrition science, including the role of the sugar industry in funding biased research.
6. Elliott, C. (2017). The sugar conspiracy: How the sugar industry is responsible for the obesity crisis. The Guardian.
This article discusses the broader consequences of the sugar industry’s actions, including its role in the current obesity epidemic.
7. Lustig, R. H. (2018). Fat chance: Beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and disease. Penguin Group.
This book by Dr. Robert Lustig delves into the science of sugar and its role in obesity and metabolic diseases, while also addressing the historical manipulation by the sugar industry.
Conclusion:
The contents of the memos revealed the sugar industry’s deliberate efforts to influence public health research and policy to protect its interests. Harvard researchers like Keys, Stare, and Hegsted played key roles in this manipulation, and their work has had long-lasting effects on dietary recommendations. The articles and books listed provide a detailed examination of how the sugar industry shaped the research agenda and public understanding of nutrition and heart disease.
With all the suffering of people that you know, family members, friends, colleagues, maybe even yourself and people that we have all lost to the North American diet and obesity. Does it not make you sick to think that the industry has put profit before the health of the general public and have shaped the information, education, habits and what we eat.
I hope everyone had a great winter season and are in good health. For those that celebrate Chinese New Year, it was on January 29 – welcome to the year of the wood snake. Happy New Year!
So was this article of interest, would you like to see more or see something else, or should I hang up my writing instruments. Send a comment to this ghost writer at [email protected] and let Val Noonan know.
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