[Photo: UCSF]
FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – A new study finds the sugar industry suppressed evidence 50 years ago of the health risks of sucrose.
The UC San Francisco study published in PLOS Biology shows the sugar trade group pulled plug on research in the late 60’s when it pointed to negative health effects of sugar in order to protect commercial interests.
The Sugar Research Foundation funded animal research, called Project 259 that evaluated the effects of sucrose on cardiovascular health.
Results showed an association with heart disease and bladder cancer, but the Sugar Foundation ended the research without publishing the results or revealing any evidence of harm.
The sugar industry also began working with nutrition scientists in the mid-1960s to single out fat and cholesterol as dietary causes of coronary heart disease, downplaying evidence that sucrose was also a risk factor, and that sugar calories had different metabolic effects than calories from starch. It was stark contrast to its public position that all calories are equal.
Click below to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
