Keeping the public ignorant about the cause of heart disease
Sept 12, 2016 20:16:18 GMT -5
vega likes this
Post by livelonger on Sept 12, 2016 20:16:18 GMT -5
"a 1967 literature review in The New England Journal of Medicine pointed to fat and cholesterol as the dietary culprits of heart disease, glossing over evidence from the 1950s that sugar was also linked to heart disease. According to the new report, the NEJM review was sponsored by the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF), which is today the Sugar Association, although its role was not disclosed at the time.
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The researchers also reviewed symposium proceedings and historical reports. In 1954, they say, foundation president Henry Haas gave a speech highlighting the potential of reducing American fat intake and recapturing those calories as carbohydrates that would increase the per capita consumption of sugar more than a third.
In 1962, an American Medical Association nutrition report indicated that low-fat high-sugar diets may actually encourage the development of cholesterol. Two years later, according to the new report, SRF vice president John Hickson proposed that the SRF embark on a major program to counter “negative attitudes toward sugar.”
Increasingly, epidemiological reports suggested that blood sugar, rather than blood cholesterol or high blood pressure, was a better predictor of plaque buildup in the arteries.
The journal did not require conflict of interest disclosure until 1984.
“The sugar association paid very prestigious Harvard scientists to publish a review focusing on saturated fat and cholesterol as the main causes of heart disease at the time when studies were starting to accumulate indicating that sugar is a risk factor for heart disease,” Schmidt told Reuters Health by phone. “That has an impact on the whole research community and where it’s going to go.”
“For example a lot of the messaging during this period around how to prevent heart disease focused on, why don’t you use margarine rather than butter, which has less saturated fat,” Schmidt said. Now we know that margarine is full of trans fat, which causes heart disease and has been nearly eradicated from the U.S. food supply.
REUTERS
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The researchers also reviewed symposium proceedings and historical reports. In 1954, they say, foundation president Henry Haas gave a speech highlighting the potential of reducing American fat intake and recapturing those calories as carbohydrates that would increase the per capita consumption of sugar more than a third.
In 1962, an American Medical Association nutrition report indicated that low-fat high-sugar diets may actually encourage the development of cholesterol. Two years later, according to the new report, SRF vice president John Hickson proposed that the SRF embark on a major program to counter “negative attitudes toward sugar.”
Increasingly, epidemiological reports suggested that blood sugar, rather than blood cholesterol or high blood pressure, was a better predictor of plaque buildup in the arteries.
The journal did not require conflict of interest disclosure until 1984.
“The sugar association paid very prestigious Harvard scientists to publish a review focusing on saturated fat and cholesterol as the main causes of heart disease at the time when studies were starting to accumulate indicating that sugar is a risk factor for heart disease,” Schmidt told Reuters Health by phone. “That has an impact on the whole research community and where it’s going to go.”
“For example a lot of the messaging during this period around how to prevent heart disease focused on, why don’t you use margarine rather than butter, which has less saturated fat,” Schmidt said. Now we know that margarine is full of trans fat, which causes heart disease and has been nearly eradicated from the U.S. food supply.
REUTERS
