Big Sugar’s Sweet Little Lies

Internal memos and documents show how the sugar industry worked to cover up evidence of its dangerous health effects:

“In January 1976, the GRAS committee published its preliminary conclusions, noting that while sugar probably contributed to tooth decay, it was not a ‘hazard to the public.’ The draft review dismissed the diabetes link as ‘circumstantial’ and called the connection to cardiovascular disease ‘less than clear,’ with fat playing a greater role. The only cautionary note, besides cavities, was that all bets were off if sugar consumption were to increase significantly. The committee then thanked the Sugar Association for contributing ‘information and data.’ (Tatem would later remark that while he was ‘proud of the credit line…we would probably be better off without it.’)

The committee’s perspective was shared by many researchers, but certainly not all. For a public hearing on the draft review, scientists from the USDA’s Carbohydrate Nutrition Laboratory submitted what they considered ‘abundant evidence that sucrose is one of the dietary factors responsible for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.’ As they later explained in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, some portion of the public—perhaps 15 million Americans at that time—clearly could not tolerate a diet rich in sugar and other carbohydrates. Sugar consumption, they said, should come down by ‘a minimum of 60 percent,’ and the government should launch a national campaign ‘to inform the populace of the hazards of excessive sugar consumption.’ But the committee stood by its conclusions in the final version of its report presented to the FDA in October 1976.”

Source: Mother Jones
Published: Oct 31, 2012
Length: 20 minutes (5,042 words)
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