Sugar industry manipulation. The research was revealed after 50 years

Sugar Research Foundation in the 1960s. The 1990s commissioned studies on the effects of sugar consumption on the human body. However, the group funding the study cut the project short and did not publish the results. No wonder – they were unfavorable for the entire sugar industry.

For over pó³ century The sugar lobby in the U.S. has kept these studies hidden in secret. The scandal was revealed in the pages of a journal „PLOS Biology”. The authors of the publication showed howób Sugar Association (the former Sugar Research Foundation) was holding back the publication of scientific studies on the harmful effects ofóin sugar consumption, none of whichóre were conducted on rodents 50 years ago.

A trail of unpublished research was stumbled upon by Cristin Kearns of the University of California, San Francisco. She noted that in a book published by the Sugar Research Foundation listing all scientific studies conducted, one entry has no related publications. The research was conducted from June 1968 until September of the following year.

Two unpublished studies, known as the „Project 259”, concerned the effects of feeding ratsóin sugar. In the first study, one group of ratsów fed zróa balanced diet of grains, beans, fish and yeast, while other rats were given a diet rich in sugars. Researchers have found that rodents on a sugar-rich diet are more likely to suffer strokes and cardiovascular disease. They also have higher levels of trójgliceridóin the blood.

In the second study porównano the health status of the ratóin sugar-fed with starch-fed rats and found that the sugar-eating rodents had significantly higher levels of an enzyme (beta-glucoronidase) associated with bladder cancer in humans.

None of the above studies have seen the light of day. Sugar Research Foundation discontinued funding „Project 259”, and the results of the study were carefully concealed.

Government Stateóin the United States has only recently updated its healthy eating guidelines and now advises that sugars should be eliminated from the diet. But the sugar industry has been aware of the dangers of a sugar-rich diet for at least pół century.

Sugar Association denied all of this, claiming that an article in the „PLOS Biology” is "a collection of speculation about events thatóre took place nearly fifty years ago”. „We analyzed our research archives and found documentation. The study ended due to the reasonóin which theónone of which included potential outcomesóin the study. The study was significantly opóźed and therefore exceeded the budgeted. This coincided with changes in the foundation’s status and related troubles” – wrote representatives of the Sugar Association in a statement. They also added that there were plans to return to the research, but for reasons unknown, it did not wrócono.

But this is not the first time the sugar lobby has stood in the way of science. Last year, it was discovered that the Sugar Research Foundation had paid three scientists in 1967 toów from Harvard to prove that sugar isn’t all that harmful, and that health problems stem from fat consumptionów.

– This kind of manipulation of research is very similar to what the tobacco industry has done – acknowledged Professor Stanton Glantz of the University of California at San Francisco, wspóauthor of the publication.

Since „Project 259” Dozens of studies have been conducted on the effects of sugar on health. A diet rich in sugars has been linked to serious health problems, including high cholesterol, heart disease or kidney disease. Recent research suggests róalso that sugar may play a role in the development of cancerów.

Sourceóbackground: PLOS Biology , Science Alert , pic. Oregon State University/ FLickr/ CC BY-SA 2.0