
Sugar industry secretly paid for favorable Harvard research - pmcpinto
https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/12/sugar-industry-harvard-research/?
======
rurban
That is known for decades, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. It's the
same strategy as used by the tobacco industry and GM (Monsanto).

Most obesity researchers are paid by the soda industry. e.g.
[http://www.alternet.org/food/soda-scandal-journalists-
fail-r...](http://www.alternet.org/food/soda-scandal-journalists-fail-reveal-
sources-funded-coca-cola)

The best outline is the latest "Sugar" documentary
[http://thatsugarfilm.com/film/synopsis/](http://thatsugarfilm.com/film/synopsis/)
who started to get the word out and of course Yudkin's book.
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/10634081...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/diet/10634081/John-
Yudkin-the-man-who-tried-to-warn-us-about-sugar.html)

The UNICEF is trying for years to warn against excessive sugar consumption.
But only their latest report speaks out: [https://www.unicef-
irc.org/publications/pdf/IWP_2016_13.pdf](https://www.unicef-
irc.org/publications/pdf/IWP_2016_13.pdf) The Soda industry with the help of
politicians did effectively destroy all sugar warnings and turn the carb
problem into a fitness and fat issue.

~~~
7sigma
Regarding gmos, thats not really true. While a lot of the research was done by
industry (which is how its supposed to, why should the public pay for safety
testing of products ?), there is also publicly funded research that confirms
that GMOs are no more risky than traditional breeding and mutagenics.

The EU funded a 10 year project in that area
[https://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/pdf/a_decade_of_eu-...](https://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/pdf/a_decade_of_eu-
funded_gmo_research.pdf)

The genera database can also give an indication of the funding by private and
government in biotech (i think its 1/3 or 1/2, but can't find the link)

[https://www.biofortified.org/portfolio/infographic-world-
map...](https://www.biofortified.org/portfolio/infographic-world-map-of-
government-funded-gmo-studies/)

Update: Replying to some of the comments, just want to clarify that company
should pay for the testing, but the actual scientific research should be done
independently. Of course the company will probably have done some initial
research of their own (at least you would hope so), but it would need to be
replicated independently.

Update 2: Grist covered gmos a few years back and here is the part about the
regulation [http://grist.org/food/the-gm-safety-dance-whats-rule-and-
wha...](http://grist.org/food/the-gm-safety-dance-whats-rule-and-whats-real/)

~~~
VMG
Similar with cellphone radiation research that is funded by industry, medical
research etc. If the taxpayer is paying, it will be seen as a hidden subsidy,
if the industry pays, it will be seen as conflict of interest.

On top of that, it can be true that industry funds research that is
potentially biased to a certain conclusion where the conclusion is actually
true.

~~~
7sigma
I think the way its done in biotechnology is that the company pays and some
3rd party lab (e.g. university) then does the experiment.

There is also a positive bias from industry studies due to the fact that
products tested internally that don't work will not be pursued and therefore
that research is not published.

~~~
the_other
> I think the way its done in biotechnology is that the company pays and some
> 3rd party lab (e.g. university) then does the experiment.

The OP's article suggests this method has lead to uncomfortable bises in the
past.

------
jcbrand
Makes you wonder how many other studies are bought and paid for, such as the
recent studies highlighting the evils of allowing cash (or at least high
denomination notes) in our society.

For example, from this Guardian article:
[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/15/crime-t...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/15/crime-
terrorism-and-tax-evasion-why-banks-are-waging-war-on-cash)

> Calls for the eradication of cash have been bolstered by evidence that high-
> value notes play a major role in crime, terrorism and tax evasion. In a
> study for the Harvard Business School last week, former bank boss Peter
> Sands called for global elimination of the high-value note.

~~~
JonnieCache
As much as I agree with your post in general, what reason is there for the
€500 note apart from stuffing as much value into a briefcase as possible?

~~~
ptero
Folks who do not trust banks/governments may want to do cash transactions.
Even if it seems highly unusual to pay for a car/vacation/house in cash this
is not a reason to outlaw it.

Second, with inflation, what seems to be a high sum today may not seem so 15
years down the road.

Third, many suspect that after outlawing largest bills we will go to
prohibiting largest remaining, etc.

~~~
Luc
> Even if it seems highly unusual to pay for a car/vacation/house in cash this
> is not a reason to outlaw it.

It's already outlawed in most EU countries. In Italy the maximum cash payment
is 3000 euro. In France, 1000 euro. Especially real estate is great for
laundering money if cash payment is allowed.

> Second, with inflation, what seems to be a high sum today may not seem so 15
> years down the road.

Inflation in the Eurozone is essentially at zero.

~~~
saiya-jin
the french example is a bit beyond ridiculous - all the people I know that had
to do home reconstruction recently myself included, or some bigger shopping
(ie car), ended up f __ed quite a few times when their basic credit cards were
blocked for rest of the month (visa classic has 10k /month limit) and you
cannot then proceed and pay rest of the expenses in cash (withdrawn ahead).

I am all for curbing criminal activities (somehow suspecting big ones are few
steps ahead anyway), but these things have consequences for rest of the folks
too.

~~~
pif
> the french example is a bit beyond ridiculous

Considering how cheques are usually welcomed in France, I strongly disagree
with you. And, if a normal cheque isn't accepted, you can step into your bank
and ask a bank-cheque, which is the top. Sure, you have to go to the bank, but
it's just for big payments, so not that often.

~~~
gravypod
What does that regulation stop other then people not using bank accounts?

How could this possibly stop any real crime?

Is there example usages of this law?

I've bought computer hardware here that totaled more then 1k when k was
setting up a few services. How would that even work since it was online in
France?

~~~
pif
> What does that regulation stop other then people not using bank accounts?

In France, if you don't have a bank account, you don't exist :-) Seriously,
everybody just assumes you have a bank account. Otherwise, it looks fishy.

> How could this possibly stop any real crime?

Directly: hold-up is pointless with no cash. Cheques are useless and credit
cards can be easily blocked.

Indirectly: the whole point of banning cash is to prevent untraceable
financial transactions from being performed. This is supposed to be annoying
for criminal activities.

> How would that even work since it was online in France?

I'm not sure I got your question. Please keep in mind that the threshold is on
_cash_ transactions, not on every transaction. As far as it is traceable, no
amount is forbidden.

------
Red_Tarsius
« _Is it really true that food companies deliberately set out to manipulate
research in their favor? Yes, it is, and the practice continues,” Nestle
added, noting that Coca-Cola and candy makers have both tried recently to
influence nutrition research._ »

Universities need to be held accountable for researchers' ethics. The article
suggests that the Sugar Research Foundation merely followed the standard
procedure of any other trade group, that is, this was not an isolated
incident. Maybe Harvard would be more inclined to avoid such malpractice if
its brand and credibility suffered from it. Universities should not act like a
PR firm.

« _Trained as a dentist, Kearns said she was shocked to hear a keynote speaker
at a 2007 dentistry conference — on diabetes, no less — tell her there is no
evidence linking sugar to chronic disease. She quit her job and devoted
herself full-time to uncovering documents that show the sugar industry’s
influence over public policy and science._ »

This quote exemplifies Arendt's banality of evil.

~~~
quantumhobbit
If the the research grant process wasn't already screwed up, it would be the
perfect place to enforce ethics. "Sorry we can't approve your grant proposal
due to ethical lapses at your institution." It wouldn't take long for
universities to wise up and take ethics seriously.

~~~
merraksh
Sure, but only if those in charge of approving/denying grants (at the NSF,
NIH, etc.) also have high ethical standards. And they happen to be researchers
and research managers.

------
curiousgal
Whenever the sugar subject is brought up I can't help but recommend watching
That Sugar Film.

Trailer:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uaWekLrilY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uaWekLrilY)

------
junipergreen
At least that kind of thing doesn't happen today. Take this study that says
eating lots of pasta doesn't make you fat. Oh wait. (Note the two funding
sources in the right-hand column)

[http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/inmn-
pin06301...](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/inmn-
pin063016.php)

------
PieterH
See previous HN discussion from a couple of days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733)

------
amelius
I hope this revelation does not only have consequences for the parties
involved, but that the systemic problems in science and its relation with
industry are addressed. For example, there is no or little incentive right now
for researchers to reproduce/validate existing results; even if those results
are highly cited. Also, the article speaks of "influential journals", but the
source of a publication should not matter in the end.

------
tener
Having heard of various crazy class action lawsuits I wonder if someone can
sue them for trying (and succeeding) to mislead the public on the health
problems due to sugar consumption?

~~~
PieterH
The lawsuits against Big Tobacco are a good template.

------
coldtea
Something to keep in mind when people point to GM studies that concluding that
everything is perfect (or "pop-sci" apologetics, with arguments like "farmers
did it for millennia anyway" conveniently forgetting the several orders of
magnitude increased volume, speed, targeting, and the ability to do arbitrary
matches -- nobody combined insect genes with fruits in the 12th century...).

Back in the day tobacco was a-ok by similar studies. Same for sugar.

Of course it's even worse for softer sciences (economics, social studies,
urban development studies, etc.).

------
fratlas
I honestly think a sugar tax would be a great move (even if only on soda, the
worst culprit).

~~~
PieterH
Probably, yes, IMO sugar needs to be regulated and taxed like alcohol.

~~~
curiousgal
I think appropriate labelling is a must. Label things correctly and let the
people decide, just like cigarettes.

I think regulation is a must only in countries with free healthcare, where
sick people are treated with taxpayers' money. If that's not the case, people
are free to do what they please with their own health as they're the sole ones
footing bill.

~~~
ThePawnBreak
> Label things correctly and let the people decide, just like cigarettes.

I don't know of any country that doesn't have a very high tax on tobacco.

------
noir-york
Sometimes I think that the best corporate social responsibility program
companies can practice is to dismantle their PACs and stop funding lobbyists.
Saves them the money and saves us all from biased public policy.

------
tn13
An industry paid for favorable research ? Tell me something new.

Elon Musk rants about environment. Do you think he does it out of his concern
for planet or his company ?

------
Scirra_Tom
People who deliberately mislead the public at the cost of the publics health
in the name of profit are some of the worst of the worst. I would like to see
the people involved in this punished but it's wishful thinking. It is evil.

It's absolutely rampant in the food industry.

------
jstoja
Few weeks ago I had the funny remark from a co-worker saying that among all
the stuff we eat, sugar is the most useless one. After thinking a bit about
this, it really makes no sense to keep eating that much sugary stuff...

~~~
rurban
Sugar is not useless at all. It's a very powerful and cheap drug, far more
effective than cocaine. Just don't overdo it.

~~~
curiousgal
> Just don't overdo it.

And that's where the issue lies. Most processed foods are _extremely_ rich in
sugar and we've gotten used to their taste.

~~~
rurban
Sure. Because the sugar industry knows the effects, and uses it to their
advantage. No other country puts that much sugar into everything.

Politics and health organizations in the US are complicit.

------
cjpb
I understand why the sugar industry does this, just fighting fire with fire.
The meat, dairy and egg industries have far more to answer for in regards to
the current health epidemic in the western world.

Do people really think it's the sugar in the soda with all the literature we
now have on nutrition? What about the oil laden fries, and the burgers packed
with cholesterol, fat and animal protein that seem to be so popular in the
western world? Most westerners I know consume overt fat and excess protein at
least 2/3 meals each day then wonder why they have health problems.

I've seen more obese patients than I can count eat nothing but refined sugar,
white rice, fruit juice (The Rice Diet [1]) and come out months later weighing
half their original weight while reversing most, if not all of their western
disease. Yet the majority of medical professionals continue to ignore the
literature and clinical results that work in the LONG term.

And I know this is anecdotal - but when I traveled rural Asia, all the leanest
and healthiest people I met ate nothing but rice, fruit and vegetables - it's
all they could afford (the poorest of the lot just eat rice). They also have
bowls of refined sugar on the table instead of salt and drink cane
juice/sugary drinks like it's going out of fashion.

I personally eat 3000-4000 calories of carbohydrates each day, whether I'm
training or not (cycling) and I never put on weight - I'm certainly not scared
of soda. Winter just passed here, I trained probably once a week due to rain
and actually weigh less than before Winter when I was training daily - most
likely due to Thermogenesis [2].

Note too that de novo lipogenesis is so severely inefficient in humans [3]
(even when over feeding) that it's laughable to even correlate sugar with
obesity or our current health epidemic - especially when the majority are
eating excess fat and protein.

I for one certainly love having my glycogen stores packed full of ready to use
energy and my body producing glucose derived ATP [4,5] on the regular. And I
know when I start to conk out on my bike I can just whip out an energy gel
(sugar concentrate) or drink some sugar water to keep rolling.

I also imagine most folks on HN use their brain for most of the day, so don't
forget to get adequate glucose on the daily to keep it humming along optimally
[6].

Sugar is your best friend if you haven't already damaged your pancreas. Just
make sure to get some basic nutrients and minerals from plant sources and
you're good to go.

[1] [https://www.drmcdougall.com/2013/12/31/walter-kempner-md-
fou...](https://www.drmcdougall.com/2013/12/31/walter-kempner-md-founder-of-
the-rice-diet/) [2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis)
[3]
[https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/mar/passionate.htm](https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/mar/passionate.htm)
[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_catabolism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_catabolism)
[5]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate)
[6]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3900881/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3900881/)

------
jmporcel
Indeed.

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agounaris
Nooooo such things don't happen, its a lie! :D

