The sugar lobby would have paid scientists to conduct exculpatory studies of this food in the risk of coronary heart disease, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The publications accused fat of being responsible for the multiplication of cardiovascular illnesses.
Cristin Kearns and her colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco (United States) claim in this new study that the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF), one of the main organs of the sugar industry, would have bought researchers to publish research in favor of sugar and at the expense of cholesterol responsible for the increase in coronary heart disease.
The researchers analyzed internal SRF documents, historical reports, and statements from officials about the dietary causes of coronary heart disease.
Manipulated studies
They found that the SRF sponsored the first research project in 1965 which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Scientists have singled out fats and cholesterol as responsible for coronary heart disease and downplayed the effects of sucrose consumption as a risk factor. This publication caused a stir and influenced a whole school of thought.
But, Cristin Kearns also reveals that John Hickson, one of the leaders of this organization who commissioned several Harvard researchers for this meta-analysis would have paid the scientists.
For this work, the SRF offered them a bonus of 6,500 dollars (about 50,000 dollars in 2016, taking into account inflation). And he would have clearly told the scientists that this work that they will sign will have to minimize the effects of sugar on cardiovascular health…
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