It was recently revealed that the group now called the Sugar Association, funded research in the 1960s and 1970s to make sugar look like it wasn’t a health concern. These studies made fat the culprit behind coronary heart disease, and made people switch from butter to margarine, and drink low fat milk.

This has just now come to light after Dr. Kristin Kearns published a study on the dark side of the sugar industry. She studied the Sugar Association’s documents, statements, and historical records and found that they ignored the warning signs of the effects of sugar on health.

Current studies show that consumption of a diet with a lot of sugar puts you at a higher risk of dying from heart disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries to decrease their sugar intake to less than ten percent of their daily intake (“How the Sugar…”).

This isn’t the only instance that a corporation has funded research in their favor. The tobacco industry and the soda industry have both funded research to make their products look like they don’t have a major impact on health. Scientists first started noticing the correlation between cigarette use and lung cancer in the 1940s. In 1953 tobacco companies created the Tobacco Institute Research Committee to research the effect of cigarettes on health. After this committee was developed, research was published that stated that there are no adverse effects to smoking and that nicotine was not addictive (“Government…”).

References:

“How the Sugar Industry Deceived the American People.” Triple Pundit People Planet Profit. Triple Pundit, 19 Sept. 2016. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.

“Government Lays Out Fraud Case Against Big Tobacco.” Tom Watkins. CNN.com. 21 Sept. 2004. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.