How could it happen? One word. Lobbyists.
Fat got vilified because it has no one central origin to lobby around. The beef industry thought Americans wouldn't abandon them, while the chicken and pork industries had already gone down the path of effectively "breeding" the fat out of their products, and marketing them as the cleaner and healthy alternatives. (Have you eaten an unseasoned piece of chicken or pork lately? They taste like nothing.) While the dairy industries began their no-fat march onto the supermarket shelves. (Whats the point of yogurt without fat?)
The crappy science behind the Anti-fat full-court press, supported by the woefully inept American Medical Assoc...helped the lobbyists for the sugar industry and all the other sweetener derivative industries, such as the Corn Growers lobby (corn syrup) - to put their products into almost every food,even those where they weren't even needed.
Lesser processed types of cane sugar aint all that evil. Its still used overseas in sodas,and cooking, and baked goods. (Drink a Coke made with real cane sugar versus the high fructose corn syrup versions in the US and see the diff) But the highly processed forms of sweeteners became a staple of life and processed foods in the US. But that includes salt as well...because humans react to highly refined sugar and salt like they react to drugs like heroin. "Can't get enough." because they trick us into satiation, when they do the complete opposite, make us hunger for more.
Fat got vilified because it has no one central origin to lobby around. The beef industry thought Americans wouldn't abandon them, while the chicken and pork industries had already gone down the path of effectively "breeding" the fat out of their products, and marketing them as the cleaner and healthy alternatives. (Have you eaten an unseasoned piece of chicken or pork lately? They taste like nothing.) While the dairy industries began their no-fat march onto the supermarket shelves. (Whats the point of yogurt without fat?)
The crappy science behind the Anti-fat full-court press, supported by the woefully inept American Medical Assoc...helped the lobbyists for the sugar industry and all the other sweetener derivative industries, such as the Corn Growers lobby (corn syrup) - to put their products into almost every food,even those where they weren't even needed.
Lesser processed types of cane sugar aint all that evil. Its still used overseas in sodas,and cooking, and baked goods. (Drink a Coke made with real cane sugar versus the high fructose corn syrup versions in the US and see the diff) But the highly processed forms of sweeteners became a staple of life and processed foods in the US. But that includes salt as well...because humans react to highly refined sugar and salt like they react to drugs like heroin. "Can't get enough." because they trick us into satiation, when they do the complete opposite, make us hunger for more.
40
Come on. Even a half century ago, when breakfast cereals had "Sugar" in the title, nobody seriously thought sugar was good for you. But as always, we need our scapegoat.
So if there's a diabetes epidemic and an obesity epidemic, why is there no cavities epidemic? That's because all carbs turn to blood sugar; therefore, people who think they're avoiding big bad sugar are probably not.
So if there's a diabetes epidemic and an obesity epidemic, why is there no cavities epidemic? That's because all carbs turn to blood sugar; therefore, people who think they're avoiding big bad sugar are probably not.
7
My mother was decades ahead of her time by serving organic food, and fruit for dessert. Had my first cavity a year after I married my sugarholic husband. After reading this article I am strongly motivated to cut way back on ice cream consumption--which will be very difficult. I have a bad feeling that ice cream/sugar can be addictive.
9
Get a job in an ice cream shop. You'll be sick of it soon enough.
4
The author is missing the opportunity to connect sugar and American slavery. What would the sugar industry be without slavery?
16
There is virtually no prepared or processed food that you can buy at Whole Foods, Costco, Safeway, Walmart, McD's, Olive Garden, or any of their ilk that doesn't contain added sugars or chemical equivalents. Why?
Because they are addictive. And without them, the "food" wouldn't taste right to you. Start drinking coffee sugar free & get used to the taste: it doesn't take very long. Then move on to sugar free salads, soups, deli meats, condiments, sauces, drinks. But you won't find virtually any of this at the big sellers that still follow the "nutrition" guidelines bought & paid for by big Agra.
But hey, the present Repub platform unequivocally states that coal is a clean & healthy fuel source. What's diabetes, lung cancer & death compared to bribery, power, & wealth anyway.
Bottoms up.
Because they are addictive. And without them, the "food" wouldn't taste right to you. Start drinking coffee sugar free & get used to the taste: it doesn't take very long. Then move on to sugar free salads, soups, deli meats, condiments, sauces, drinks. But you won't find virtually any of this at the big sellers that still follow the "nutrition" guidelines bought & paid for by big Agra.
But hey, the present Repub platform unequivocally states that coal is a clean & healthy fuel source. What's diabetes, lung cancer & death compared to bribery, power, & wealth anyway.
Bottoms up.
22
The FDA went after Kind, because the company claimed their bars were healthy. The reason they went after them? Not because they have too much sugar (they offer some bars with only 5mg), but because they have to much fat. Meanwhile, there is zero evidence that fat in itself makes you fat or unhealthy
Now, take a walk down the cereal aisle. Junk high carb sugary cereals like Chocolate Cheerios have placed prominently on the box the AHA "heart healthy" seal of approval. Why? Because they have no cholesterol. But the FDA, in their 2015 guidelines, stated emphatically that cholesterol is not longer a source of concern. Eating eggs, which have lots of cholesterol, do not raise serum cholesterol.
It is truly maddening. And shame on the AHA for their bogus approval of junk sugary cereal.
Now, take a walk down the cereal aisle. Junk high carb sugary cereals like Chocolate Cheerios have placed prominently on the box the AHA "heart healthy" seal of approval. Why? Because they have no cholesterol. But the FDA, in their 2015 guidelines, stated emphatically that cholesterol is not longer a source of concern. Eating eggs, which have lots of cholesterol, do not raise serum cholesterol.
It is truly maddening. And shame on the AHA for their bogus approval of junk sugary cereal.
26
Singerman's point, IMHO, is the corruption of government and the manipulation of consumers by the sugar industry. This is an argument that can't be repeated enough and applied to just about every major corporation with a product to oversell.
However, we can't let fat/cholesterol off the hook for coronary heart disease (CAD). All the heart disease risk calculators factor in the various components of serum cholesterol as well as factors as smoking, gender, age.
I recognize these risks were identified in the early and mid-20th century when Americans were still mostly normal weight and we had not been taught to over consume sugary products. However, I doubt serum cholesterol (total, HDL and LDL) will be exonerated as we recognize the role of excess dietary sugar on obesity, diabetes and excess insulin secretion. The risks of CAD are surely multiple and for the public to focus on one culprit and toss out all others is simplistic in the extreme.
But it doesn't have to be so complex. I still hold to healthy lifestyles; lots of exercise and a varied diet of fresh foods of all types. And we must be aware of how our food choices are swayed by clever advertising; we drink super sized sodas and forget about fresh greens for a reason; that reason, I hold, is due to corporate greed and the easy corruption of government by money.
That's my advise to all my overweight, diabetic and heart disease patients every day at work.
However, we can't let fat/cholesterol off the hook for coronary heart disease (CAD). All the heart disease risk calculators factor in the various components of serum cholesterol as well as factors as smoking, gender, age.
I recognize these risks were identified in the early and mid-20th century when Americans were still mostly normal weight and we had not been taught to over consume sugary products. However, I doubt serum cholesterol (total, HDL and LDL) will be exonerated as we recognize the role of excess dietary sugar on obesity, diabetes and excess insulin secretion. The risks of CAD are surely multiple and for the public to focus on one culprit and toss out all others is simplistic in the extreme.
But it doesn't have to be so complex. I still hold to healthy lifestyles; lots of exercise and a varied diet of fresh foods of all types. And we must be aware of how our food choices are swayed by clever advertising; we drink super sized sodas and forget about fresh greens for a reason; that reason, I hold, is due to corporate greed and the easy corruption of government by money.
That's my advise to all my overweight, diabetic and heart disease patients every day at work.
8
A story not being pursued is the scientists who are working for the industry and "lying" to the public for their salary. This article talks, in just one sentence, about Harvard scientists doing the dirty work for the sugar industry. There were also scientists in the tobacco industry misinforming us as to the dangers. We now have scientists against global warming and scientists who say fracking is perfectly safe. Apparently, being a scientist does not mean a search for the truth, just for money.
27
The embargo against Cuba has more to do with domestic sugar producers than with foreign policy.
13
Numerous pro-industry books proclaiming sugar to be perfectly safe, except for causing tooth decay, have been published for popular consumption. In addition to the prototypical book, "Panic in the Pantry," another classic in this genre is "Health Schemes, Scams and Frauds" by Stephen Barrett, M.D. All of these books tell readers that sugar is unfairly maligned by "antisugar crusaders" from the health food industry. Dr. Barrett assures readers that proper brushing, flossing and adequate fluoride intake throughout childhood will minimize cavities. The premise of all books of this genre is that our food supply is perfectly safe and that it provides nutrients sufficient to negate any need for supplementation.
3
A story of academic corruption, it appears. The most instructive part of the story, for me, is that Harvard scientists-for-sell got paid by the sugar industry to publish a study in the cooperative New England Journal of Medicine in 1967 blaming fat and cholesterol for coronary heart disease while largely exculpating sugar. In other words, corrupt scientists got paid for lying and the medical journal went along with the corruption. So much for "corporate science" disguised as "university research". No wonder our planet is drowning in toxic chemicals and so many species are disappearing while we humans gobble the sugar and get fatter.
5
One of the most negative consequences of this story is that it will increase the public's distrust of science. As it is, we are in the age of ignorance when knowledge and expertise are derided as "elitist" and Know-Nothing's are poised to elect their buffoon representative the leader of the free world. Get ready for anti-vaccers, climate change deniers, creationists and assorted conspiracy theorists to start pointing to Big Sugar as a proof that the black helicopters are coming and the New World Order is about to unleash a zombie apocalypse. But while not justifying the scientists' behavior, let's remember that warnings about sugar have been around for decades. And after all, how about using your own brain? Didn't your mother tell you that too much candy is bad for you? Stop eating junk and you won't need nutrition guidance. I literally cannot eat any American cakes or cookies because they taste nauseatingly sweet. Try Japanese and Chinese sweets (it's the season for mooncakes now), which are less than half the sugar content of the American processed treats, and you'll see for yourself how the sugar industry in the US caters to the American taste. If the public demands less sugar, companies will comply.
10
I blame the doctors of today. As scientists, all of them should be experts in human physiology and metabolics. For decades now, the scientific community has known the specifics of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Sadly, doctors are being steamrolled by flaky studies and patients convinced by what they see on cable TV shows into going along with patently false assumptions and theories about diet.
5
To say nothing of the environmental damage the industry has done to the Everglades as well as the water crisis looming over Southern Florida from draining the massive slow river into the oceans for more land to grow more sugar.
7
One could go even further back in history and see how sugar was initially produced in British and other European colonies in the Caribbean by African slave labor. According to a recent important book by Matthew Karp, "This Vast Southern Empire: Slaveholders at the Helm of American Foreign Policy," Sugar was one of the four most important commodities of the slave economy. Put that in your tea and stir it.
7
I came across a hilarious ad by a sugar org in a 1966 Look Magazine with a small girl in ruffles looking grouchy.
"Betty is cranky."
Then it goes on to tout the benefits of sugar when your child wears you out. They even said it kept colds and the flu at bay. Say, that's what I was saying, Mom! Why can't I have another soda, Pop? Do I have to throw a fit?
"Betty is cranky."
Then it goes on to tout the benefits of sugar when your child wears you out. They even said it kept colds and the flu at bay. Say, that's what I was saying, Mom! Why can't I have another soda, Pop? Do I have to throw a fit?
5
Thanks for the tip. The "Betty is cranky." ad can be found by doing a Google images search.
2
Of all my vices that have come and gone (tobacco, booze, drugs), sugar is by far the hardest to conquer. And it's all by design, thanks to the sugar industry.
12
How do you indulge your sugar vice? Please give examples.
1
The real tragedy here perpetrated by the sugar industry is the effect on health using the same marketing and obfuscation techniques employed by the tobacco industry. But where many non-smokers find the smell of burning tobacco as noxious and thereby avoid its use, sugar is a sweet food source only occasionally encountered in small quantities by our ancestors. The effect on humans revealed by archaeological evidence shows a direct link between obesity, dental destruction and susceptibility to diabetes when greater reliance on carbohydrates replaced smaller quantities of fats and protein.
The shame exacerbating this tragedy has been the willingness of some members of our scientific community to sell out to the sugar and tobacco industry for notoriety and profit while forsaking their commitment to advancing human knowledge and social responsibility.
The shame exacerbating this tragedy has been the willingness of some members of our scientific community to sell out to the sugar and tobacco industry for notoriety and profit while forsaking their commitment to advancing human knowledge and social responsibility.
11
Yes, the glories of unregulated capitalism. I still walk into my hospital's cafeteria and the only kind of yogurt that is available is 0% fat, and loaded with sugar.
43
This episode from the 60s seems an apt metaphor for what we would see from the Reagan administration 20 years later. No, the government and its regulations has no right to tell the sugar lobby what they can say and do, and in the end, it's sugary goodness for everybody!
4
Big sugar is more responsible than any other single factor, for making Americans as fat as hypopotami, especially American women, who used to be a lot less obese than American men, but are now even fatter (hence the sudden demand for "fat acceptance" and the ludicrous claims that some people's bodies can't help getting fat even though rates of obesity were far lower 30 years ago with almost the same genetics). The only other contributor nearly as big is the USDA and its awful "food pyramid" with 6 helpings a day of (usually refined) starches at the bottom of it, an abominable idea that needs to be investigated for who was responsible.
Big Sugar, not Exxon, should be the prime subject of investigation by state attorneys general. Even with global warming, oil will be needed for aircraft and a lot of other mobile machinery, but no one needs to eat a lot of sugar.
Big Sugar, not Exxon, should be the prime subject of investigation by state attorneys general. Even with global warming, oil will be needed for aircraft and a lot of other mobile machinery, but no one needs to eat a lot of sugar.
26
if you don't mind an observation, this is what you get with totalitarian capitalism. Food, health care, education, energy, banking... all need strict government regulation to prevent them from doing harm to Us, the People.
42
Tariffs are imposed by government, not by business, so you should be complaining about government, not "totalitarian capitalism", whatever that is.
1
But, but, ... but look at all the employment sugar has created - on the farm, in the food industry, lobbyists, politicians, lawyers, not to mention the diabetes pharmaco-industrial complex, Oprah's Weight-Watchers, gyms, dentists, psychologists, .... And what about all that almost-new clothing we grow out of that we donate to the less fortunate? Without sugar, what would we do with all that fluoridated water?
We just need to look at the sweet side of sugar, ... until our next dental check up, insulin shot and head check (one lump or two?).
We just need to look at the sweet side of sugar, ... until our next dental check up, insulin shot and head check (one lump or two?).
13
One of the best books on this was written in 1986 (Penguin), Sidney Mintz, Sweetness & Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. Regarding the power of sugar, ask those who staged the 1959 peaceful revolution in the Territory of Hawaii about the power of sugar which had determined the political complexion of that territory enabling the cartel's access to prime agricultural public lands for 99 year leases at a pittance.
9
Sugar has a long history in slavery, politics, bribery & scandals. But it's delicious. We all love it.
And the Metropolitan Museum of Art might not exist if not for the sugar fortune of one family. They still have enough money to live well.
Can we end the subsidy to big sugar? Put the money into nutrition education and sports programs for public school kids. Fund some research into our diabetes epidemic and plan to eliminate it? Tax high fructose corn sugars while we're at it. Not just cane sugar. Donald clearly has a sugar problem.
And the Metropolitan Museum of Art might not exist if not for the sugar fortune of one family. They still have enough money to live well.
Can we end the subsidy to big sugar? Put the money into nutrition education and sports programs for public school kids. Fund some research into our diabetes epidemic and plan to eliminate it? Tax high fructose corn sugars while we're at it. Not just cane sugar. Donald clearly has a sugar problem.
2
This kind of manipulation is the bedrock of capitalism; to use any method for achieving dominance in the market. Profit is the be all, end all.
24
The sugar lobby is the NRA of the Ag Sector- Small in size but very influential. Debbie Wasserman is in the pocket of Big Sugar- Bernie wanted to get rid of the ridiculous subsidies for Big Sugar- Wasserman was head of the DNC- Bernie was marginalized and kicked to the curb- Hillary is the nominee- Anyone know how Hillary feels about sugar?
32
My advice is to stay out of big grocery stores as much as possible. They are FILLED with sugary products.
1
If the human metabolism is an engine and food is fuel for that engine than carbohydrates (sugars and starches) are the first to be converted to fuel (energy) by the engine's conversion process. If there is adequate fuel (energy) from carbohydrates than fat, another fuel (energy) source is stored for later use. Protein the third fuel (energy) source is needed for muscle growth and repair. It is not stored and any excess is eliminated. Conclusion: In the absence of carbohydrates fat is converted to energy to fuel the human metabolism. If a person is thin and has no or low body fat then fat-free diets will keep one slim but the only way to lose fat is to keep carbohydrates to a minimum which in turn will convert stored fat into energy.
2
The only way to lose fat is to run a calorie deficit. You can lose weight eating only carbohydrates- or pure sugar for that matter-but the caloric amount must be less than your expenditure over the long term.
1
"...paid Harvard scientists to publish a study blaming fat and cholesterol for coronary heart disease while largely exculpating sugar."
Really? That sounds like the scientists were bribed to publish these conclusions.
Or is it possibly true that the "sugar industry" supported the research, which would be another matter entirely.
Really? That sounds like the scientists were bribed to publish these conclusions.
Or is it possibly true that the "sugar industry" supported the research, which would be another matter entirely.
4
The industry supported the research, directed the research, and told the researchers what conclusions they wanted. Did you not see the revelation earlier this week? http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifte...?
3
I take all "research" from Harvard or otherwise with a handful of salt. Someone will have financed the effort and it is unlikely to be objective.
3
Plenty of cause for outrage in this story, but outrage in this case is impotent without action. The decision comes down to this, do you want to spend your hard-earned money to support and industry that takes from you in the form of subsidies and extractive agricultural practices and sells to you a product that is harmful to your health? There is no such thing as moderation in the consumption of something that is demonstrably inferior to all alternative sources of nutrition. Now for the disclaimer, I make my wife a really nice cake for her birthday every year. If I didn't she'd wonder why I was angry with her. ;-)
3
Today, we consume on average 130 pounds of sugar per year according to Forbes Magazine.
8
And to think we'd pay as much a $20K for a cone of the sweet stuff back in the day. So valuable you had to lock it up! To the inexperienced user, it must have delivered quite a kick, to say nothing of chocalate.
2
Nice article. This gives a different, historical perspective to a nasty and destructive American business whose sole reason for existence is to make a handful of rich families richer along with the politicians they own. Unfortunately, ranting against the American sugar industry is as futile an exercise as can be imagined. Nobody cares.
9
Smedley Butler's rant on War Rackets includes these goons. For the three years prior to WWI, American Sugar Refining Company recorded $2 million in profits annually, but once the war cranked up, they tripled their profits.
Here I thought it was to corral all the sugar planters, but it was to prevent them from sweetening our lives more fully for some copper jacket barons, too.
Here I thought it was to corral all the sugar planters, but it was to prevent them from sweetening our lives more fully for some copper jacket barons, too.
Can we get big warning labels on all our food that share this truth in this article and also tell how much the US taxpayer has subsidized this industry?
6
Not a text label. A picture .... a variety of characters, rather unattractively huge, even moderately obese, .........have a national contest for submission of the images to adorn all sugar and high fructose corn sweetener laden products. And a tax on them. Fat shaming. Step it up. Why not? A basket of half of us have already agreed that they're tired of being politically correct. I'm tired of hearing about the high cost of health care when it's largely related to food and nicotine and preventable.
2
Millions of lives ruined, and billions upon billions of health costs. All bought for $57 million. With returns on investment like that, who can blame the Sugar lobby?
14
What I'm not seeing in these comments is the connection to industry campaign contributions. We need public financing of elections and laws making it a crime for any government official to take anything from anybody.
49
The history of sugar from the 1700's on is related to bribery and slave labor.
Corn sweeteners are a recent entry. Public Financing!
Corn sweeteners are a recent entry. Public Financing!
5
We need reversal of Citizens United, which effectively legalized bribery.
11
"The refiners’ real agenda, of course, was not Americans’ health"
Might as well be "Any corporate giant's agenda"
Might as well be "Any corporate giant's agenda"
20
Sugar is poison. ☠
Avoid it like the plague.
Avoid it like the plague.
24
It's causing many of our inflammation conditions.
3
It always pays to read the actual study, which ends with:
"Study Limitations
The Roger Adams papers and other documents used in this research provide a narrow window into the activities of 1 sugar industry trade association;therefore,it is difficult to validate that the documents gathered are representative of the entirety of SRF internal materials related to Project 226 from the 1950s and 1960s or that the proper weight was given to each data source. There is no direct evidence that the sugar industry wrote or changed the NEJM review manuscript; the evidence that the industry shaped the review’s conclusions is circumstantial. We did not analyze the role of
other organizations, nutrition leaders, or food industries that advocated that saturated fat and dietary cholesterol were the main dietary cause of CHD. We could not interview key actors involved in this historical episode because they have died."
Chiefly, No Evidence and Circumstancial ......
"Study Limitations
The Roger Adams papers and other documents used in this research provide a narrow window into the activities of 1 sugar industry trade association;therefore,it is difficult to validate that the documents gathered are representative of the entirety of SRF internal materials related to Project 226 from the 1950s and 1960s or that the proper weight was given to each data source. There is no direct evidence that the sugar industry wrote or changed the NEJM review manuscript; the evidence that the industry shaped the review’s conclusions is circumstantial. We did not analyze the role of
other organizations, nutrition leaders, or food industries that advocated that saturated fat and dietary cholesterol were the main dietary cause of CHD. We could not interview key actors involved in this historical episode because they have died."
Chiefly, No Evidence and Circumstancial ......
7
BIG everything has become very destructive in the world and especially in the food chain. Our kids babysitter told me many years ago why she was taking away sugary cereals and other sugar foods from her kids and I followed her lead - there was an immediate remarkable change for the better in my kids' behavior.
Now Monsanto and Bayer are talking about merging. One HUGE company will control the chemical universe and the "new" company will not be responsible for the lawsuits that will arise from farmers use of Monsanto's Round Up weed killer just before crops are harvested to kill the plants and make harvesting easier. This is on top of Monsanto's GMO seeds that are resistant to "Round Up". That effects OUR entire food chain and everything that feeds from it, including bees and birds. No wonder so many Americans are sick and getting sicker every day.
No one is safe from BIG if they aren't seriously regulated and taxed to sustain societies. No one.
Now Monsanto and Bayer are talking about merging. One HUGE company will control the chemical universe and the "new" company will not be responsible for the lawsuits that will arise from farmers use of Monsanto's Round Up weed killer just before crops are harvested to kill the plants and make harvesting easier. This is on top of Monsanto's GMO seeds that are resistant to "Round Up". That effects OUR entire food chain and everything that feeds from it, including bees and birds. No wonder so many Americans are sick and getting sicker every day.
No one is safe from BIG if they aren't seriously regulated and taxed to sustain societies. No one.
14
How long will Big Sugar's machinations be tolerated by our government (and the government of Florida - such a sweet state)? Big Sugar should pay for restoration of the Everglades, our national pride, to the tune of 200 million dollars a year for 20 years. Big Sugar has caused the Everglades and Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts to become a cesspit of their effluent from Lake Okeechobee. State lawmakers want to ease restrictions on polluters from the sugar industry, which has polluted much of the Everglades and Florida waters. Polluters should be brought to justice. Massive dumps of water from Lake Okeechobee (to reduce the risk of flooding precious sugarcane fields) has soiled both Florida coasts and threatens to pollute Florida's potable waters as many big cities' waters have been polluted by lead and other filthy contaminants in the drinking water. Big Sugar must pay the tab for turning Florida waters and the Everglades into a monstrous septic tank. Big sugar, Big Pharma, Big Agro, Big Tobacco are poisoning Americans to death.
24
LOL. Why stop there?
"Big Sugar" in the New World caused the importation of 20 million black slaves from Africa to work the fields over several centuries. The sugar industry then- and the slave trade- was run by Spanish and Portuguese Marranos- or Jews that had been forced to convert to Christianity.
"Big Sugar" in the New World caused the importation of 20 million black slaves from Africa to work the fields over several centuries. The sugar industry then- and the slave trade- was run by Spanish and Portuguese Marranos- or Jews that had been forced to convert to Christianity.
Havemeyers from Germany were Jewish?
1
It it is worth noting that the Fanjul family who are " big sugar " in America and before the revolution in Cuba were the biggie there as well are well represented by the Clintons and have been for decades . Peppy Fanjul was the Florida head honcho for Bill Clintons campaign and there are lovely photos of him and Hillary at fund raisers all over the Internet. It's also worth noting that many of the problems in the Everglades have been attributed to the run off from big sugar. My understanding is there has been a bill to buy much of this land back from the politically connected Fanjul Family and the chatter is they are hoping for a Clinton victory to get a better deal. I must say that with the family clothing and cool car expenses they can always use another couple billion, Pepy and his brother Alfie are hands down the best dressed men in the country.
18
Shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. The Cuban revolution came about in one part because of the sugar industry there, the US supported Battista and his corrupt government because of the huge sugar industry dominated by US producers. In other places governments bought by the sugar industry were kept in power as well.
Anyone remember the cyclomates? They were one of the few artificial sweeteners that didn't taste funny, they posed a serious challenge to sugar, and ended up banned by studies showing it caused cancer and other things..it might in fact be dangerous, but the studies that 'proved' this were funded by the sugar industry..who did things like giving rats the equivalent of eating pounds a day of the stuff in a human being.
And then, take a look at the government and subsidizing the corn industry, which has given us the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, so cheap that it is used in so many different things, from bread to prepared meals and of course in soda and drinks, the government in effect is subsidizing getting people fat, yet no one dares challenge this because ADM and Cargill have made fortunes out of it.
Sadly, doesn't matter much, the American people have been conditioned either to believe that the magical names of Harvard and the JMA and such are beyond corruption, or to accept things without facts that are 'true', they will go along with the flow.
Anyone remember the cyclomates? They were one of the few artificial sweeteners that didn't taste funny, they posed a serious challenge to sugar, and ended up banned by studies showing it caused cancer and other things..it might in fact be dangerous, but the studies that 'proved' this were funded by the sugar industry..who did things like giving rats the equivalent of eating pounds a day of the stuff in a human being.
And then, take a look at the government and subsidizing the corn industry, which has given us the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, so cheap that it is used in so many different things, from bread to prepared meals and of course in soda and drinks, the government in effect is subsidizing getting people fat, yet no one dares challenge this because ADM and Cargill have made fortunes out of it.
Sadly, doesn't matter much, the American people have been conditioned either to believe that the magical names of Harvard and the JMA and such are beyond corruption, or to accept things without facts that are 'true', they will go along with the flow.
9
I signed up for a free health newsletter from the esteemed Harvard Medical School last week. Is that perhaps what it's really worth?
3
thank you for this more-than 100-years-ago history...
now we need a 21st century update,
both on tariffs and production/distribution...
then:
an even bigger and more insidious challenge:
corn-syrup and all of its derivatives.
wherever there is serious money to be made,
especially on industrial scales,
loss-of-truth is the first and largest by-product.
10
How damaging will this story be to the Global Warming story? As damaging as "they" want it to be.
3
Here's a science Saturday moment. Add yeast and sugar and you get alcohol. Add acetobacter and you get vinegar. Tada! A healthy diet of vinegar supports the sugar industry while promoting your health and adding value along the way. You can also stop half-way through the process and have a party instead. This is why you should pickle vegetables over baking cakes. The veggies will last longer too.
4
Flint water with "all natural" lead added.
Given that government can be so easily bought by industry, shouldn't we also take government financed studies with a grain of salt too?
We need to have a truly independent and unbiased truth seekers to keep everyone honest. Oh, that's right, it is called the press. Thanks for this report NYT.
Given that government can be so easily bought by industry, shouldn't we also take government financed studies with a grain of salt too?
We need to have a truly independent and unbiased truth seekers to keep everyone honest. Oh, that's right, it is called the press. Thanks for this report NYT.
7
An equally appalling story is that of the government support of the dairy industry. There is no reason anyone older than two should drink milk, and babies should drink human milk. There are no health benefits to consuming dairy products versus other sources of protein and fats, but we support the industry through price supports. The ongoing scandal is the influence lobbyists have over policy which should be evidence-based. Our elected representatives have little knowledge about science, and the main sense of curiosity applies to where the next donation may be found.
32
(Not Mark) The farm subsidies are not about science, they are about supposedly supporting farmers. Look back to the great depression for the history of farm supports.
2
Sugar and dairy are very different. Human response to dairy is highly variable. So we can do without the cultish piling on.
7
There is no reason why anyone over two should not drink milk (or eat cheese or yogurt), unless there is lactose intolerance. If you enjoy dairy products, eat away.
4
Sugar is addictive. That's why pediatricians beg new mothers not to give it to their babies, because it's the beginning of a life-long struggle. I'm struggling, right now. This time I'm going to win.
21
This is yet another example of the folly of deregulation. Deregulation is based upon the idea that we can "trust" corporations because they wouldn't do anything negative that would sully their reputations.
Right.
Even though the sugar industry, along with Big Oil, the banking industry, and many others as well, have shown themselves adept at manipulating government regulators and regulations, can you imagine what we would be faced with if there were no regulations at all?
Right.
Even though the sugar industry, along with Big Oil, the banking industry, and many others as well, have shown themselves adept at manipulating government regulators and regulations, can you imagine what we would be faced with if there were no regulations at all?
116
can you imagine a president who thrives on doing business this way with only his own success as his goal??
3
(Not Mark)I get another view from this. I see this as crony capitalism in action. The big sugar people give money to the politicians (both state and federal) and they get the laws to change to favor sugar or maybe ban foreign sugar or whatever. But down here on the sidewalk the rest of us have to actually live with all the laws and regulations. Laws are for the little people, huh?
2
This might as well have been written by The Food Babe -- shocking that an American industry should lobby Congress to protect it from unfair foreign competition...just shocking!
Equally shocking that industry should help fund science and that the funder should decide what topic should be studied.
This sort of witch-hunting of industries sorting through 50 year old records may be historically interesting, but it has no scientific or medical basis.
There is still no real scientific evidence that "added sugars" (as opposed to just "sugars") have any causal relationship to CHD.
The funniest part of the Opinion piece is the seeming attempt to blame the food industry for "nutritionism" -- the singling out of isolated biochemicals as the culprits for ill health -- like singling out "added sugars" as a cause for CHD.
Equally shocking that industry should help fund science and that the funder should decide what topic should be studied.
This sort of witch-hunting of industries sorting through 50 year old records may be historically interesting, but it has no scientific or medical basis.
There is still no real scientific evidence that "added sugars" (as opposed to just "sugars") have any causal relationship to CHD.
The funniest part of the Opinion piece is the seeming attempt to blame the food industry for "nutritionism" -- the singling out of isolated biochemicals as the culprits for ill health -- like singling out "added sugars" as a cause for CHD.
2
Because people don't eat four apples at a time. But they will eat a giant piece of cheesecake and wash it down with a sugar-laden coffee. Big difference. Nobody is getting obese and diabetic from eating too many apples.
2
Google the Fanjul family. They got out of Cuba when Castro came to power. Lost their land, but kept their assets including the sugar cane holdings in Florida. Some time ago the family was called the 'Poster Children of Corporate Welfare".
Speaking of which the same thing applies to the ethanol from corn scam perpetuated by the "corn" states. Making ethanol from corn is expensive and not very efficient. Sugar cane is a much better source, but to get enough of it, we'd have to import it from Brazil. This 'corn" program is also "Corporate Welfare" and should be stopped.
Speaking of which the same thing applies to the ethanol from corn scam perpetuated by the "corn" states. Making ethanol from corn is expensive and not very efficient. Sugar cane is a much better source, but to get enough of it, we'd have to import it from Brazil. This 'corn" program is also "Corporate Welfare" and should be stopped.
10
How powerful is Big Sugar? In the Oval office, Bill Clinton interrupted his break-up with White House intern Monica Lewinsky to take a call from Florida sugar baron Pepe Fanjul.
Who takes a call while ending an illicit affair with a vulnerable decades younger intern at work?! Whose call cannot be missed? A call from Pepe Fanjul of Flo-Sun, one of the largest receipients of federal subsidies due to sugar price fixing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/icreport/6...
http://fanjulbrothers.com/
Who takes a call while ending an illicit affair with a vulnerable decades younger intern at work?! Whose call cannot be missed? A call from Pepe Fanjul of Flo-Sun, one of the largest receipients of federal subsidies due to sugar price fixing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/icreport/6...
http://fanjulbrothers.com/
6
As a European living in the US one of the first things I noticed was that the scale of sweetness in this country was over the top. Not only is sugar in virtually everything from deli meats to bread and pickled foods, baked goods are so sweet that I cannot eat them without gagging. I found that for all American baking recipes, I need to cut out at least a third of the sugar. Candy or soda I don't even buy. Just appaling.
7
Sugar or a deviation of sugar is a drug and like any other drug, it is addictive. If not by the product, at least by the money flowing to those hands helping in the distribution. Why don't we get the Sugar Industry to pay for our rehabilitation like we did the Tobacco Industry? Lawsuit lawyers, where are you?
2
(Not Mark) Sugar is not addictive. It is not a drug in any form. Science education in this country is a scandal.
1
"Today, the sugar industry remains politically powerful . . ."
When I think of powerful lobbying groups in Washington, the sugar industry is nowhere near the top of the list.
Which industries/firms/individuals are?
It would truly be a public service for the Times to give us a ranking, perhaps with some follow-up articles regarding what the various lobbyists are trying to achieve.
The people have a right to know.
When I think of powerful lobbying groups in Washington, the sugar industry is nowhere near the top of the list.
Which industries/firms/individuals are?
It would truly be a public service for the Times to give us a ranking, perhaps with some follow-up articles regarding what the various lobbyists are trying to achieve.
The people have a right to know.
5
Soon we'll be harvesting squash....very sweet. The cherry tomatoes have been excellent. Peppers, oh my...great. Even kept the squirrels away from the sweet corn. The pollinators are loving the Mexican sunflowers... monarchs and bees and humming birds.
Next year, maybe pumpkin on the Boulevard....dog walkers ya know.
Next year, maybe pumpkin on the Boulevard....dog walkers ya know.
2
I stopped ingesting added sugar products (even Heinz Ketchup) in December 2013. My Triglyceride count dropped dramatically into the normal range and my cholesterol ratio reversed and is now in the highest healthy range. I did not loose weight but it has become much easier to loose 5-10 pounds whenever I stop overeating. I have not cut back on natural occurring sugars in fruits.
Sugar is really a poison.
Sugar is really a poison.
6
They get the profits and we get diabetes and heart disease!!! How sweet is that? P.S. And that doesn't count the wheat industry...products that turn into sugar the moment they enter the human body. Sugar and wheat: We need to think of them as our nation's greatest health hazards.
2
More simple minded piling on!
1
After the Harvard - Astra-Zeneca connection and not this, I can't help wondering how many instances like these occurred in the ensuing 50 or 60 years between Big Business and Harvard researchers. Can anyone believe anything that comes out of Harvard's mouth ever again?
2
This is a sorry, but familiar, story. It turns out that buying politicians is very, very inexpensive and the return on investment is tremendous.
An old story, endlessly repeated.
An old story, endlessly repeated.
16
Eating sugar is addictive so without it in everything you eat or drink, your body will miss it. If we stop taking sugaring our coffee or tea, or reduce how much you use, big sugars and their puppets will pay attention.
(Not Mark) Sugar is not addictive. Period. You can stop eating it and have no ill effects. This doesn't mean you won't want it, but that is not addiction. In WWII, when people were asked (and it was rationed) to cut down on sugar consumption, my Aunt stopped taking it in her coffee and tea. She still doesn't take it. She's 95.
1
Sugar has been used by government and cronies for corrupt enrichment through the ages. Check out the Boromeo family with their beautiful palace on Isola Bella in northern Italy, granted a sugar concession monopoly by medieval royalty.
In the United States, look at the Fanjul Brothers, owners of a massive sugar operation in Florida and massive donator to the Democratic and Republican parties, allowing our politicians to, just like medieval nobility, profit handsomely off of the populations' sugar addiction.
Why everyone talks about the Koch brothers and not also the Fanjul brothers mystifies me.
The Fanjul brothers even outdid the Boromeo family with their Casa de Campo 7,000 acre playground for the elite in the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. sugar subsidies for the Fanjul brothers are an outrage, a relic of times of medieval political patronage and profit.
In the United States, look at the Fanjul Brothers, owners of a massive sugar operation in Florida and massive donator to the Democratic and Republican parties, allowing our politicians to, just like medieval nobility, profit handsomely off of the populations' sugar addiction.
Why everyone talks about the Koch brothers and not also the Fanjul brothers mystifies me.
The Fanjul brothers even outdid the Boromeo family with their Casa de Campo 7,000 acre playground for the elite in the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. sugar subsidies for the Fanjul brothers are an outrage, a relic of times of medieval political patronage and profit.
14
(Not Mark) Maybe because they give most of their money to democrats?
3
"This revelation rightly reminds us to view industry-funded nutrition science with skepticism...."
For me the more important take-away is that in 1967 Harvard was demonstrably corrupt. Has it changed in the meantime? For the better or worse?
The corruption of the eggheads is not surprising to me. If my 20-year career on Wall Street taught me anything, it is this: generally speaking, the smarter the person, the more willing s/he is to deceive others. It has do to with the person's sense of infallibility; the sense that s/he can always talk her/himself out of a jam.
For me the more important take-away is that in 1967 Harvard was demonstrably corrupt. Has it changed in the meantime? For the better or worse?
The corruption of the eggheads is not surprising to me. If my 20-year career on Wall Street taught me anything, it is this: generally speaking, the smarter the person, the more willing s/he is to deceive others. It has do to with the person's sense of infallibility; the sense that s/he can always talk her/himself out of a jam.
10
The sugar industries action to protect its interest lies at the core of what is wrong about free enterprise. Business cares about profits more then they do about their clients health. That is why we need a government to regulate and protect the ccnsumer.
5
(Not Mark) Actually no. It's the government's role in this that's the problem. No tariffs on imported sugar, no price supports for any agricultural products. This started during the great depression and we still live with it today. That's not free enterprise. As for regulations, we've got plenty of them, but it seems that politicians (state and federal) will be happy to change a few or exempt some for a price, a price that ordinary people can't pay. Laws are for the little people, eh? Free enterprise is not to blame here and if you think giving all that power to the government will make things right, you need to go back and read some history.
For years my son thought proudly that he took three sugars in his tea, because I always made it and slowly, systematically lowered the intake down to one. Food producers could reduce their costs and our consumption by doing the same.
5
Not far from our borders are dirt pour countries and people whose climates and labor force can produce sugar at much lower costs than the cane sugar from Florida or the beet sugar from Minnesota. A foreign policy that promotes the economies of those people would in the end be to our benefit. Remove the Tariffs on imported sugar and the subsides to gigantic beet farmers or at least label imported cane sugar so that I have a choice. Capitalism is depends on Free Markets, they say!
6
Only one problem with your thesis Pat those "dirt poor" countries where they grow sugar cane in abundance, The Dominican Republic jumps to mind immediately are owned by the same people as the ones in Florida, the workers living in the same squalid conditions: if you get a chance sometime and can tear yourself away from the beautiful coasts of Florida, hit the road for Okeechobee or any of the areas where big sugar rules you would think you were in a third world country, that's because you are America has become in one generation the land of opportunity for all to an unrecognizable country of inequality. Those folks harvesting the cane in Florida are no better of perhaps even less so than slaves in our own American South at one time. Open your eyes folks there's lots of people really hurting in this " land of opportunity "provided of course that you can get into Harvard or Stanford. My heart beaks for America, we were denied change with Bernie Sanders, hopefully Trump will be another Truman, a guy that was a businessman not a politician. The politicians of all stripes have destroyed our wonderful nation we have to take it back.
3
Mr. Singerman gives lie to the notion that the liberal arts are not useful. As an historian, he places the activities of the evolving sugar industry in context of the American public, corporate relations, lobbying and the government.
But one point that the media around these findings hasn't yet shined a light on is the aura around Harvard. Harvard has brilliant branding, and it has an outsize voice in healthcare. I hope more investigative reporters and historians will dig into Harvard's refusal to host professional nursing programs, it's total silence on the importance of professional nursing to the health and well-being of Americans, and the many conflicts of interest Harvard associated physicians and public health researchers have had and continue to have which have harmed people as a result of the conflicts and lack of disclosure.
Anecdotally, I have seen many. I have read about very few.
But one point that the media around these findings hasn't yet shined a light on is the aura around Harvard. Harvard has brilliant branding, and it has an outsize voice in healthcare. I hope more investigative reporters and historians will dig into Harvard's refusal to host professional nursing programs, it's total silence on the importance of professional nursing to the health and well-being of Americans, and the many conflicts of interest Harvard associated physicians and public health researchers have had and continue to have which have harmed people as a result of the conflicts and lack of disclosure.
Anecdotally, I have seen many. I have read about very few.
3
Hopefully, Mr. Singerman has read "War Against All Puerto Ricans" by Nelson A. Denis which relates the part the continental sugar companies played in the destruction of one of the basic native industries on the island. Puerto Rico is where it is today, partly, because of that interference.
1
Over 90% of US adults have experienced dental decay nearly 100% of which is caused by sugar. Tastes good though. In food industry studies of consumer preferences for canned creamed corn from the 40's they found no upper limit for adding sugar. We just love it. As always, the more processed the food the less of it we should use. Vote with your wallet.
2
If you grew up so poor that you hadn't seen sugar until teen age, you don't know yourself. I used it to study and at work, to solve problems others couldn't.
So, if you take refined sugar for granted and abuse it, like anything else, it can hurt you. But once again, we're all being lumped together and lectured to by those who won't understand the complexity of life.
So, if you take refined sugar for granted and abuse it, like anything else, it can hurt you. But once again, we're all being lumped together and lectured to by those who won't understand the complexity of life.
2
It's not just Big Sugar. It's Big Ag -- monoculture crops, factory farms, fast foods, processed foods, convenience foods. And Big Ag acts like Big Sugar on steroids. And, like Big Sugar, Big Ag is a conundrum.
We have unprecedented, year-round variety at the supermarket. And we really like that. We have Big Macs and Whoppers and we really like them. We have Hamburger Helper and Stove Top Stuffing and we really buy them even if we don't like them so much.
We have a Department of Agriculture on a mission to promote the growth of the processed food industry and deceptive marketing. But we are willing to suspend disbelief and accept that any ring-shaped baked good that is not a donut can legitimately be called a bagel.
To a lesser or greater degree, we can identify the problem. We just don't know what to do about it.
We have unprecedented, year-round variety at the supermarket. And we really like that. We have Big Macs and Whoppers and we really like them. We have Hamburger Helper and Stove Top Stuffing and we really buy them even if we don't like them so much.
We have a Department of Agriculture on a mission to promote the growth of the processed food industry and deceptive marketing. But we are willing to suspend disbelief and accept that any ring-shaped baked good that is not a donut can legitimately be called a bagel.
To a lesser or greater degree, we can identify the problem. We just don't know what to do about it.
4
When Sen McCain was the people's candidate in 2000, there was a cerebral candidate on the democratic side - Fmr. Senator Bill Russell. Bill Russell had fought the Sugar lobby.
4
Nice piece. Always good to see history brought to bear on contemporary issues. Are any of us really surprised by this narrative?
1
This is a story about a handful of families in Florida who control an entire industry and use their enormous found wealth to continue a history of corruption. With the support of politicians at all levels of government, in both parties, they have effectively robbed the bank and left the depositors with ill health. When, oh when, will the Americans stop believing in the magic of riches?
6
Apparently, if it maximises profits then all is ok for nobody ever goes to prison.
8
When my baby teeth fell out they were completely rotted from sugar. True story! I use to steal money from my parents to get a sugar fix when I was an adolescent. I was a sugar addict. Then came the booze, which I refer to as liquid sugar. In the winter if you eat a lot of sugary products, which during the cold months is pretty easy to fall into, you suppress your immune system which makes it easier for your body catch colds
and the flu. The only benefit sugar has is as a source of fuel for Btu,s
Give children a lot of sugar, create future addicts. It's not that far removed from the opioid epidemic
and the flu. The only benefit sugar has is as a source of fuel for Btu,s
Give children a lot of sugar, create future addicts. It's not that far removed from the opioid epidemic
3
(Not Mark) Uh, no.
2
A good book to read on origins is: Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. As far as sponsored research, it is painfully obvious here as to why publications now ask who paid for what so that investigative journalists can deeply review who will gain, loose, etc.
1
Thank goodness my mother's side of the family, going back 150 years, lived off the land they farmed. We were raised to eat fruits and vegetables, with infrequent desserts, saved primarily for the fall and winter holidays. Dessert in the summer was watermelon.
I am saddened every time I go to the grocery and see obese people with carts full of sugary processed food. It is a death sentence for millions and we're all going to pay a steep price.
I am saddened every time I go to the grocery and see obese people with carts full of sugary processed food. It is a death sentence for millions and we're all going to pay a steep price.
18
The Indian River Lagoon system is fouled.
The dumping of toxic water from Lake Okeechobee during heavy rains results in releasing millions of gallons through the two locks.
Our beaches were closed to the public, esp. Bathtub Beach, which is popular with families with young children.
But Big Sugar cares not. It pays politicians to prevent allowing water from the lake to flow south, for the good of the Everglades.
Gov. Rick Scout deserves lots of credit for blocking the water so that BIG SUGAR can rake in millions more and our watery world is destroyed.
The dumping of toxic water from Lake Okeechobee during heavy rains results in releasing millions of gallons through the two locks.
Our beaches were closed to the public, esp. Bathtub Beach, which is popular with families with young children.
But Big Sugar cares not. It pays politicians to prevent allowing water from the lake to flow south, for the good of the Everglades.
Gov. Rick Scout deserves lots of credit for blocking the water so that BIG SUGAR can rake in millions more and our watery world is destroyed.
9
Not said by NY Times: Debbie Wasserman Schultz voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry.
18
She, and many others, are the poster boys and girls for term limits. Term limited politicians would be much less likely to give a you know what about contributions from Big Sugar and the other Bigs.
1
End the sugar subsidies and allow unrestricted sugar imports.
Its time to stop the US sugar industry from polluting our Florida coasts.
Its time to stop the US sugar industry from polluting our Florida coasts.
6
Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that gave business the First Amendment right to "bribe" politicians -- as long as they labelled it a campaign-related contribution and not an express bribe -- has undermined our antitrust laws and is on the way to doing the same thing to our banking and securities regulation. Government policy is controlled by elected officials, and getting elected requires a lot of money. Big Business has the money, and thanks to a one-vote margin in the Supreme Court, political bribery has become institutionalized.
12
(Not Mark) Oh please, this has been going on long before citizens united. Do you ever read anything but the far left newsletter?
2
Did you read the article? The problem started 100 years ago, way before Citizens United.
1
Lots of comments about Big Pharma, Big Tobacco etc. The common denominator is Congress and Citizen's United. And yet, we continue to re-elect the same Congressional Clowns over and over again. And why? Educate yourselves before the upcoming election. Read about the candidates in depth (League of Women Voters). And VOTE.
17
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, the 100 US senators and the 435 member of congress have zero clue about nutrition. Have you ever heard anyone mention it? The notable exception is Mike Bloomberg, who backfired with his Big Gulp ban. Bans don't work. And nerdy Bloomberg is the wrong messenger (just like Dr. Kevorkian was the wrong messenger for doctor assisted suicide).
Former Presidential Candidate, current Senator Marco Rubio and his relationship to Florida's Big Sugar Majordomo "Pepe" Fanjul is well known in The Sunshine State. "Little" Marco has a sweet tooth for the Billonaire donor who has bankrolled his career as reported in Bloomberg and National Review. Federal sugar subsidies championed by Rubio cost the taxpayers billions a year. Entrenched Politicians beholden to wealthy Patrons the cavities in U.S.
10
Little Marco, the Rube, can take his sweet tooth to hell, but not back. Think I'll send another 50 bucks to PATRICK MURPHY! Vote Democratic.
2
(Not Mark) Of course it's Rubio, not Clinton. Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
1
It would be good to see this article expanded to cover the agricultural aspects. Big Sugar's tentacles have a long reach, well beyond the "technical" aspects tied to the tariffs.
2
I have commented previously that the root cause of these issues is not Big Sugar or Big Fat, but the scientific illiteracy of our population. Food fads do not require anything beyond an undergraduate biochemistry class, coupled with some basic nutritional information, to navigate; these should be required coursework in college curricula. The student is thus prepared for a lifetime of reading labels, and making good choices when new information becomes available. (Corollary: when they make poor choices, they are also responsible!)
43
So, business shouldn't be held accountable for deceit, while their victims are to blame for ignorance or gullibility? What about those who can't afford college or don't have the aptitude for science? "Let them eat cake" was never more apt.
The root cause is deception, not scientific illiteracy. Consumers should not be forced to contend with constant misinformation. The real crime here is that neither corporations nor the people who run them are held accountable for misdeeds even when lives are ruined.
The root cause is deception, not scientific illiteracy. Consumers should not be forced to contend with constant misinformation. The real crime here is that neither corporations nor the people who run them are held accountable for misdeeds even when lives are ruined.
1
Robert Lustig, MD, used to warn listeners that they were going to need a good biochem background to follow his 2 hour talk. Somebody "go to him" and now he does the same talk in half the time, no stoichiometry needed, and still reaches the same conclusion.
1
What about the people who don't go to college? Or those who do, but would rather not slog through a bio-chem class filled with cutthroat pre-med students?
Oh and your bit about personal responsibility is well played too. Let me guess: you're a disappointed Bernie supporter who now buys into the dribble of the Libertarian party. Well, if you're going to require bio-chem, maybe you should require geography too. How about that Aleppo? Oh wait, what's Aleppo?
Oh and your bit about personal responsibility is well played too. Let me guess: you're a disappointed Bernie supporter who now buys into the dribble of the Libertarian party. Well, if you're going to require bio-chem, maybe you should require geography too. How about that Aleppo? Oh wait, what's Aleppo?
1
"Big Sugar"symbolizes corporate environmental destruction aided and abetted by politicians. Since the mid nineties "Big Sugar"has contributed almost $60 million dollars to Florida politicians, overwhelmingly Republicans. Jeb Bush, Rick Scott, and Marco Rubio have been recipients. They have subsequently favored policies which benefit Big Sugar and hurt the Everglades. The phosphorus pollutants endemic to sugar production slowly flow South through the Everglades and enter Florida Bay. This has led to algae blooms and the killing of the sea grass in Florida Bay,which serves as a nursery for marine life.
7
White sugar is highly acidic and can corrode the intestinal walls from overconsumption, causing leaky gut syndrome. It destroys healthy intestinal bacteria, inhibits calcium absorption and is a major cause of arthritis and ADHD. These are well-known facts in alternative therapies such as naturopathy and homeopathy, the latter listing in the classical materia medicas remedies for "ill effects of sugar". You won't get a word of controversy about sugar's ill effects from the medical-industrial complex, because they are still light years away from adapting true holistic treatments of illnesses.
3
This piece is fascinating. I want to learn more.
This is a directionally correct article but incomplete. It should have started exposing that we Americans pay between 3 & 4 times the world price for sugar. With such a huge disparity between domestic & international prices a very powerful lobby has flourished that, as the article points out, has been able to buy politicians wholesale to protect the quota system.
The article might have mentioned that the industry is divided between the cane sugar producers who fight any and all attempts to improve the ecology of the Everglades & the sugar beet producers. It might have mentioned that this nutty policy (but very profitable to the protected domestic produces) has driven a large part of the candy & cookie industries abroad, mainly to Canada, since illogically such processed forms of sugar are not subject to the quota system.
But don’t hold your breath; it ain’t going to change any time soon!
The article might have mentioned that the industry is divided between the cane sugar producers who fight any and all attempts to improve the ecology of the Everglades & the sugar beet producers. It might have mentioned that this nutty policy (but very profitable to the protected domestic produces) has driven a large part of the candy & cookie industries abroad, mainly to Canada, since illogically such processed forms of sugar are not subject to the quota system.
But don’t hold your breath; it ain’t going to change any time soon!
4
A pity that the industry's state-backed destruction of the Everglades is buried at the end of your otherwise excellent story. The damage to the "river of grass" is no less than an environmental disaster.
5
The story of sugar is even worse than this.
Go back a bit further in time and you find the early rise of modern industrial capitalism beginning to develop in the plantation economies of the Caribbean (after experiments in islands off the African coast). These plantation economies first tried to work with indigenous "American" labor and then switched to African slaves. So we also see the role of slavery here. The use of sugar in Western Europe (especially the early British empire) went hand in hand with the importing and drinking of coffee and then tea -- eventually tied in with the opium trade by the British East India Company, selling opium to the Chinese in return for tea (and then leading to war when the Chinese tried to stop this trade).
Isn't it fascinating when science and history reveal the actual workings of our world, natural and human!
And some wonder why many on the Right try to disrespect science and shut down the teaching of history.
Go back a bit further in time and you find the early rise of modern industrial capitalism beginning to develop in the plantation economies of the Caribbean (after experiments in islands off the African coast). These plantation economies first tried to work with indigenous "American" labor and then switched to African slaves. So we also see the role of slavery here. The use of sugar in Western Europe (especially the early British empire) went hand in hand with the importing and drinking of coffee and then tea -- eventually tied in with the opium trade by the British East India Company, selling opium to the Chinese in return for tea (and then leading to war when the Chinese tried to stop this trade).
Isn't it fascinating when science and history reveal the actual workings of our world, natural and human!
And some wonder why many on the Right try to disrespect science and shut down the teaching of history.
7
The sugar industry donated heavily to academics who supported fluoridation, seeing fluoride as the silver bullet which would allow us to keep eating a lot of sugar while avoiding tooth decay. Sugar interests pressured EPA not to declare fluoride to be a possible carcinogen in 1990. Connett, The Case Against Fluoride, pp. 263-265.
4
Sugar is addictive. Want higher sales for your soup? Want more shelf space in the grocery aisle? Add sugar. So not just the sugar industry per se, the food production industry. Careers are built on sugar. But your kitchen and your stove are yours alone.
3
The moment the last Castro is dead in Cuba let's see how quickly the Senate Foreign Trade committee scramble to drop the sugar quota-based tariff. We who work at Customs and administer quotas realize that the only trade leverage that we still have as a nation resides in the regimes of quotas, visas, antidumping and countervailing duties. We've already yielded to China in dropping all our residual textile and apparel-based quotas and visas in 2009 in consequence of belonging to the World Trade Organisation, whose inexorable pressure downward on tariff rates will spell the abolition of import-based revenue for the USA. But if we can see the Florida Everglades restored to their once-wild state and the noxious sugar plantations disappear forever from their midst, it's all good...
4
This article comes close to implying that "molecules" are dangerous, and impure unknown mixtures of molecules are ipso facto healthy. But everything is made of molecules, and the molecular composition of a food determines its nutritional and health value. There's nothing magical about "raw" sugar, although it can taste better, or at least more interesting, than refined sugar, and might encourage one to cutback on one's sucrose intake. If there is blame, it should be focussed on inferior scientists who color their results to please their sponsors, or who collectively fail to ensure that sponsors cannot influence research conclusions.
1
Rising seas will eventually destroy what's left of the Everglades, but perhaps without Big Sugar's role in thwarting significant restoration, at least a small portion of our beloved River of Grass could have been salvaged. Big Sugar's toxic legacy poisoned our bodies, our environment and our democracy.
5
Sadly, the corrupting effects of money are in evidence in every country across a wide spectrum of businesses... and, as always, it benefits the few at the expense of the many.
And now our species is staring down the dark tunnel of extinction...
Evil won't disappear, but it must be met with hard work and sacrifice.... and when such persons emerge, evil will lie and smear and cheat to make sure those saviors, battling on, are defeated...
but battle on against the lies she must, with our support !!
And now our species is staring down the dark tunnel of extinction...
Evil won't disappear, but it must be met with hard work and sacrifice.... and when such persons emerge, evil will lie and smear and cheat to make sure those saviors, battling on, are defeated...
but battle on against the lies she must, with our support !!
3
The impact of sugar?
Just walk into a Wal-Mart and observe the customers.
What have we done to ourselves?
Just walk into a Wal-Mart and observe the customers.
What have we done to ourselves?
7
Yes. Nothing sadder than the obese 30-something couple with the two obese kids who are five and eight. You would NEVER have seen this 40 years ago.
1
Sweets to the sweet, but the revelation of skullduggery at Harvard science is disturbing. We've had lots of "science" funded by Big Tobacco. We've had trials that sought to show that drinking lots of milk would lower serum cholesterol. We've had all sorts of proof that fish oil has miraculous properties. But HARVARD?
Newly independent Ireland (Free State) appointed an army general to start a sugar industry. He did it well, too well. The harvest, getting the beet to the factories and refining the sugar, all that was known until recently as "the campaign."
Before sugar there was honey. In Elizabeth I's reign, a trade agreement with Morocco brought honey to England. Elizabeth so indulged that she acquired a mouth-full of black teeth and stumps. Some courtiers blackened their teeth to be in sync with Her Majesty.
Newly independent Ireland (Free State) appointed an army general to start a sugar industry. He did it well, too well. The harvest, getting the beet to the factories and refining the sugar, all that was known until recently as "the campaign."
Before sugar there was honey. In Elizabeth I's reign, a trade agreement with Morocco brought honey to England. Elizabeth so indulged that she acquired a mouth-full of black teeth and stumps. Some courtiers blackened their teeth to be in sync with Her Majesty.
3
Government funded research is often corrupt. When the federal government puts billions of dollars on the table to study "climate change" what do you think researchers will "discover"?
Obama's last big idea was billions to study "sea level rise."
Politicians use your money to convince you to surrender your rights and property. And you demand more of it.
If I was president, I would put up billions of you dollars to study the origins of your stupidity. Of course I already know the answer. (Hint: it rhymes with Karl Marx). Old Karl understood your stupidity and predicted Democratism would become the new communism.
Obama's last big idea was billions to study "sea level rise."
Politicians use your money to convince you to surrender your rights and property. And you demand more of it.
If I was president, I would put up billions of you dollars to study the origins of your stupidity. Of course I already know the answer. (Hint: it rhymes with Karl Marx). Old Karl understood your stupidity and predicted Democratism would become the new communism.
1
Impressive! Trump couldn't have done better: exaggeration, hyperbole, lies, and assigning to others a label more appropriate for yourself.
2
This is the second NYTs piece in the last week to comment on the behaviors of the modern sugar industry: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifte... . That is hardly the only industry shown to have a long-standing pattern of deceit and obfuscation, led by the marketing arms of select major companies and facilitated by our political system: http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/ . These patterns can be seen for issues surrounding climate change, big tobacco, big oil, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
These are matters for permanent vigilance. We should also be aware of some of the good done by certain guilty parties--this would include pharmaceutical, oil and chemical industries. A few ethics courses in business school are not going to effectively combat these practices.
Although science has a remarkable track record over the past five centuries, it has always been subject to the foibles of existing culture: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=33669 ("Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as if It Was Produced by People with Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority" by Steven Shapin).
These are matters for permanent vigilance. We should also be aware of some of the good done by certain guilty parties--this would include pharmaceutical, oil and chemical industries. A few ethics courses in business school are not going to effectively combat these practices.
Although science has a remarkable track record over the past five centuries, it has always been subject to the foibles of existing culture: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=33669 ("Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as if It Was Produced by People with Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority" by Steven Shapin).
3
Sugar (glucose) blood levels are caused by sugar itself and its conversion rate from items such as white flour, which is rapid.We rely on endocrinologists who do not know diabetes or insulin (two would have killed me by prescribing fifteen units of short-term insulin at bedtime). Diabetologists, who have to take additional courses and be certified for the specialty, are few in our city. But sugar sneaks into every food -- tomato paste, sugar-free cookies made with white flour, fast food or specialty-food restaurants. It is the lack of trained doctors here -- my wife returns to Lima, Peru for medical treatment, including surgery, since care is so much better -- who spend five minutes with a patient that is at fault for not explaining sugar, how it can appear from a croissant or a restaurant meatball. Obesity and its side-effects are not parsed from diabetes to thoracic, lumbar, pelvic, knee, and ankle issues. I've been to dozens of pain management centers and ninety percent of the patients are obese to the point where the seats of walkers are three feet wide. But only one such specialist ever told obese patients that he would see them once they had lost a hundred pounds. People do not read the tiny ingredients' labels or ask whether sugar is in their food; it is up to doctors to not just explain but insist and direct.
5
As the Simpsons so accurately put it...
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women"
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women"
5
I knew after the recent news reports that we'd soon be hearing about "Big Sugar". What with Big Pharma and all.....
Scary, that "Big Sugar". What's the next scandal? Big Flour? Big Shortening? Big Beef?
"Big Sugar" made me do it.....
Scary, that "Big Sugar". What's the next scandal? Big Flour? Big Shortening? Big Beef?
"Big Sugar" made me do it.....
1
Let's not overlook the environmental damage being done to the Everglades being done by big sugar with the blessings of Rick Scott.
It may be coming back to bite him on the arse now that the water releases from the polluted Okeechobee are upsetting his millionaire friends whose houses now face algae blooms and dead zones in the Gulf.
Real Estate agents are not very happy either now that sales are being cancelled after people see numerous days of dead fish washing up onto the beaches.
The Florida repblicans won't be happy until they have developed and paved over every inch of Florida.
It may be coming back to bite him on the arse now that the water releases from the polluted Okeechobee are upsetting his millionaire friends whose houses now face algae blooms and dead zones in the Gulf.
Real Estate agents are not very happy either now that sales are being cancelled after people see numerous days of dead fish washing up onto the beaches.
The Florida repblicans won't be happy until they have developed and paved over every inch of Florida.
46
On June 30, the Times ran with an article called "Milk and Other Surprising Ways to Stay Hydrated." In this article, the Times wrote: '"The study also showed that regular soda can hydrate you just as well as water, although soda contains sugar and most sports and nutrition experts do not recommend it for hydration."
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/milk-and-other-surprising-ways-...
A commenter pointed out that the study was bankrolled by the Coca-Cola corporation, at which point the story was amended to include this fact.
The solution to the problem presented in the article is straightforward: the press need to uphold their primary duties to their readers, including basic fact-checking and finding implicit conflicts of interests, before the stories run. That was as true in the 1960s as it was on June 30.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/milk-and-other-surprising-ways-...
A commenter pointed out that the study was bankrolled by the Coca-Cola corporation, at which point the story was amended to include this fact.
The solution to the problem presented in the article is straightforward: the press need to uphold their primary duties to their readers, including basic fact-checking and finding implicit conflicts of interests, before the stories run. That was as true in the 1960s as it was on June 30.
54
Just in case people do decide to switch from soft drinks to milk, they can buy Fairlife milk, which has been "premiumised" and distributed by Coca-Cola.
the sugar story leaves a bitter taste regarding the complicit Harvard researchers
8
Couldn't agree more, stay away from this except maybe a spoon or two with your beverage. Skip donuts, cakes, cookies etc., have a bagel instead. Unlike data on smoking, which relies heavily on a biased read of statistics, statisticians and doctors, the ill-effects of a sugary life are direct, universal and for everyone to see and feel.
Just one more example of how big pharma, the F&B industry, the FDA and Madison Avenue have, over the last 50 years, recklessly with their actions and inactions, poisoned the American public en masse.
Coming to sugar, trust me, easiest habit to take control over, maximum and immediate benefits. Stop killing yourself, stop being so sweet. Have a nice day.
Just one more example of how big pharma, the F&B industry, the FDA and Madison Avenue have, over the last 50 years, recklessly with their actions and inactions, poisoned the American public en masse.
Coming to sugar, trust me, easiest habit to take control over, maximum and immediate benefits. Stop killing yourself, stop being so sweet. Have a nice day.
8
This is all part of an old old colonial story, involving not just the US. (The author knows this, as evidenced by his references to the nineteenth-century.)
Ever read Jane Eyre? yeah, that wonderful and racist British novel. The invisible uncle who saves Jane though a rich bequest owns a sugar plantation in the Caribbean ... a hot place where lots of Europeans made lots of money off nameless slave laborers. The US utilized Hawaii and plantations in the South.
It's hard work cutting sugar cane ... reportedly wet, exhausting, and swimming with venomous snakes.
Snakes. There are lots of snakes in old colonial businesses like this one. (See also: bananas.)
(Must apologize. Saw the graphic, SHHHUGAR, and could hear Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot crying out to Marilyn Monroe ... stage name, Sugar Cane. Or maybe she spells it Kane. To be more discreet.)
Ever read Jane Eyre? yeah, that wonderful and racist British novel. The invisible uncle who saves Jane though a rich bequest owns a sugar plantation in the Caribbean ... a hot place where lots of Europeans made lots of money off nameless slave laborers. The US utilized Hawaii and plantations in the South.
It's hard work cutting sugar cane ... reportedly wet, exhausting, and swimming with venomous snakes.
Snakes. There are lots of snakes in old colonial businesses like this one. (See also: bananas.)
(Must apologize. Saw the graphic, SHHHUGAR, and could hear Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot crying out to Marilyn Monroe ... stage name, Sugar Cane. Or maybe she spells it Kane. To be more discreet.)
4
Sugar in the morning
Sugar in the evening
Sugar at supper time
Be my little sugar and love me all the time
Could there be better song lyrics to describe our relationship with sugar? Thanks a lot Harvard and Big Sugar.
Sugar in the evening
Sugar at supper time
Be my little sugar and love me all the time
Could there be better song lyrics to describe our relationship with sugar? Thanks a lot Harvard and Big Sugar.
11
Um. I'd rather go for the kind of sugar described in the song. Although three times a day may be a stretch for some of us.
2
People make food choices , if they can afford a healthier diet. Some poorer Americans are trapped into unhealthy eating habits. That aside, my biggest issue with Big Sugar is the destruction and pollution they have caused in my state. Sugar likes to blame cattle farmers , but Big Sugar has left a bitter taste in many mouths.
13
Sugar doesn't kill. Guns don't kill .......... Yes, it's all about power, lobbies, treason, money, even assassination or removal of democratically elected leaders ..... Guatemala and the United Fruit Gum Company ring a bell?
The world is going down the tubes, and the sugar scandals are a very tiny example of the problems the human race faces if it is to avoid WWIII and/or extermination as Professor Hawking has suggested.
The world is going down the tubes, and the sugar scandals are a very tiny example of the problems the human race faces if it is to avoid WWIII and/or extermination as Professor Hawking has suggested.
40
Surprised that this article doesn't mention that sugar, originally a luxury, came to be a common household product via the plantation system, i.e., slavery. If there's a less palatable way of founding an industry, I don't know what it might be.
67
Yeah, I thought the same thing, especially given the article's title.
OK, so sugar is bad for you, and the sugar industry has tried to make it seem not so bad. No news there. Meanwhile, the press and the New York Times especially have swallowed another food industry's big lie about how saturated fat is not so bad and low-carb diets are actually good for you. In a few more years, maybe the press and the Times will be singing a different tune.
Meanwhile, I recommend reading "The Low-Carb Fraud" by T. Colin Campbell or "How Not to Die" by Michael Greger.
Or, try this: Attend a vegan potluck or other vegan event in your city. Talk to some long-time vegans. Take pictures. Then go to a low-carb potluck or other low-carb meeting. Talk to people. Take pictures. If you feel ambitious, bring a tape measure and a scale and a blood-pressure cuff to these events. Measure the people you meet. Then you can decide for yourself.
Meanwhile, I recommend reading "The Low-Carb Fraud" by T. Colin Campbell or "How Not to Die" by Michael Greger.
Or, try this: Attend a vegan potluck or other vegan event in your city. Talk to some long-time vegans. Take pictures. Then go to a low-carb potluck or other low-carb meeting. Talk to people. Take pictures. If you feel ambitious, bring a tape measure and a scale and a blood-pressure cuff to these events. Measure the people you meet. Then you can decide for yourself.
11
I knew this was a post by a vegan. Had to wait until the last paragraph for the kicker.
Never understood why vegans can't just be happy being vegans. They have to justify it with bogus "science," stating nonsense that saturated fat will kill you. As part of a balanced diet, there is zero evidence that it is harmful.
Never understood why vegans can't just be happy being vegans. They have to justify it with bogus "science," stating nonsense that saturated fat will kill you. As part of a balanced diet, there is zero evidence that it is harmful.
1
Having fought (and lost) to get sugar in teaspoons on the new Nutrition Label, I have a keen sense of the power of FIC aka Food Industrial Complex. The Label COULD say 28g/7t, and you would then know at a glance that your adorable tiny strawberry yogurt has 7 teaspoons of sugar in it -- an absurd & appalling amount YOU would never add yourself. Or that your Big Gulp has 23 teaspoons of sugar in One Drink you drink in 10 minutes. Or that your Fab Healthy Coconut Pomegranate Kiwi Healthy Healthy has 8 teaspoons of sugar in that single healthy healthy drink.
They would change ANYthing on that Label as long as they did not have to clarify/expose sugar. NO one in America gets grams at a glance, so they guzzle in peace -- until they fall over dead or into a long grim illness. [Yes yes, I know a subset of seldom-shopping nerds does grok grams, but out of 300 people I asked, one person knew that there are 4 grams to 1 teaspoon.] The 'Health' Industry is entirely complicit. Sugar is the Unholy Grail.
They would change ANYthing on that Label as long as they did not have to clarify/expose sugar. NO one in America gets grams at a glance, so they guzzle in peace -- until they fall over dead or into a long grim illness. [Yes yes, I know a subset of seldom-shopping nerds does grok grams, but out of 300 people I asked, one person knew that there are 4 grams to 1 teaspoon.] The 'Health' Industry is entirely complicit. Sugar is the Unholy Grail.
188
Exactly. 99% of American have no idea what a gram is.
Imagine if the USDA made Coke place a teaspoon of sugar on the label with the number 13? That's the number of teaspoons in a Coke (39 grams). Sales would plummet. So it will never happen, because Coke has lots of influence.
Imagine if the USDA made Coke place a teaspoon of sugar on the label with the number 13? That's the number of teaspoons in a Coke (39 grams). Sales would plummet. So it will never happen, because Coke has lots of influence.
3
This interesting piece confounds sugar processors with sugar growers. Damage to the Everglades is being done by the large sugarcane plantations that have been protected by federal agricultural policies for decades. It is these corporate owned plantations that are the source of political contributions in Florida. The interests of the big American growers are not necessarily aligned with those of the refiners, although I would guess that they all try to keep the government from trying to reduce sugar consumption.
14
Just be simple and minimise the sugar intake.
Be mindful of your diet.
Its not just a question of diet but of the entire lifestyle.
It does not matter whether they market sugar through scientific
journals or there are thousands of sugary products on the supermarket shelves...really.
What matters is how one controls ones own health and takes responsibility to lead a healthy life.
Be mindful of your diet.
Its not just a question of diet but of the entire lifestyle.
It does not matter whether they market sugar through scientific
journals or there are thousands of sugary products on the supermarket shelves...really.
What matters is how one controls ones own health and takes responsibility to lead a healthy life.
11
I am glad that the writer at least mentioned the destruction of south Florida. A few more paragraphs might be in order to help other readers understand the full destruction of the Everglades and south Florida by "big Sugar" more interested in a few extra cents today than in making sure the land could sustain them a couple generations from now.
99
What we learn, wear, eat, consume as medicines and health enhansers, what and how we drive etc are controlled by laws rules and regulations that are passed by the congress, again through the mechanism of powerful lobbyists working forAgribusiness, BigPharma etc.
Best Practices by physicians are influenced by research funded by pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers. How do I remain a skeptic without becoming a cynic?
Last week the FDA asked manufacturers of liquid Antibacterial Soap to show evidence their product is superior to hand washing with plain soap and water.
In the 1970-s Hexachlorophene was extensively promoted for use in antibacterial soaps, including a liquid soap called Baby Magic. Hexachlorophene was subsequently banned for domestic use after several cases of brain damage and death in the US and Europe. Studies have recently shown the importance of having a normal bacterial flora in the gut for physical and mental health.
In the sugar problem, if Harvard was in collusion, whom do I trust?
It's like my mother poisoning the spaghetti sauce meant for the family!
Before the JAMA study came out, I decided to stop eating all added sugar and sugar substitutes. Being a Type 2 diabetic I concluded that stopping all sugar and sweeteners would help me lose about 10 lbs and reduce my insulin dose. The JAMA article has strengthened my resolve.
Everything in moderation. Be skeptical without becoming cynical are the lessons for me today.
Best Practices by physicians are influenced by research funded by pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers. How do I remain a skeptic without becoming a cynic?
Last week the FDA asked manufacturers of liquid Antibacterial Soap to show evidence their product is superior to hand washing with plain soap and water.
In the 1970-s Hexachlorophene was extensively promoted for use in antibacterial soaps, including a liquid soap called Baby Magic. Hexachlorophene was subsequently banned for domestic use after several cases of brain damage and death in the US and Europe. Studies have recently shown the importance of having a normal bacterial flora in the gut for physical and mental health.
In the sugar problem, if Harvard was in collusion, whom do I trust?
It's like my mother poisoning the spaghetti sauce meant for the family!
Before the JAMA study came out, I decided to stop eating all added sugar and sugar substitutes. Being a Type 2 diabetic I concluded that stopping all sugar and sweeteners would help me lose about 10 lbs and reduce my insulin dose. The JAMA article has strengthened my resolve.
Everything in moderation. Be skeptical without becoming cynical are the lessons for me today.
27
The problem isn't Big Sugar, Big Pharma, or even Big Tobacco or Big Oil. It's far larger than all of those "Bigs." The problem is the complete capitulation of our government and society to business, both big and small.
Nothing gets done here unless business is "concerned." A case in point is Indiana's "Religious Freedom" Restoration Act of 2015. This legislation was reviled by many ordinary citizens but their views were considered inconsequential by the legislature (see Gilens and Page for more). However, once business got into the act and started pulling events out of Indiana, the legislature's attitude suddenly and remarkably changed to "OMG! Something must be done! We must change the law!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Restoration_Act_(Indiana)
Yes, this illustrates that business *can* be a force for good but history tells us we'll get more Sugar Trusts from business than we will get fights for civil rights.
The Sugar Trust may have been one of the "most notorious and successful monopolies of the Gilded Age" but apparently we learned nothing from it. We just have different monopolies now, bolstered by the unlimited bribery legalized by Citizens United. Where's our modern-day Teddy Roosevelt?
Nothing gets done here unless business is "concerned." A case in point is Indiana's "Religious Freedom" Restoration Act of 2015. This legislation was reviled by many ordinary citizens but their views were considered inconsequential by the legislature (see Gilens and Page for more). However, once business got into the act and started pulling events out of Indiana, the legislature's attitude suddenly and remarkably changed to "OMG! Something must be done! We must change the law!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Restoration_Act_(Indiana)
Yes, this illustrates that business *can* be a force for good but history tells us we'll get more Sugar Trusts from business than we will get fights for civil rights.
The Sugar Trust may have been one of the "most notorious and successful monopolies of the Gilded Age" but apparently we learned nothing from it. We just have different monopolies now, bolstered by the unlimited bribery legalized by Citizens United. Where's our modern-day Teddy Roosevelt?
142
"Where's our modern-day Teddy Roosevelt?"
We rejected him in favor of Hillary in the primaries.
We rejected him in favor of Hillary in the primaries.
3
And remember when Arizona did not celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The NFL pulled the Super Bowl site from Phoenix and soon Arizona was celebrating MLK Day.
2
The word "sweet" has always been used positively. Shakespeare wrote, "Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." People have always liked sweets. The sugar industry didn't have to work very hard to succeed.
3
Big sugar in Florida has been accused of using slave labor for harvesting and, through the use if heavy duty pesticides, destroying much of the ecosystem in Lake Okeechobee. The resulting mess has wound up polluting much of the Florida coast as it travels through canals built by the Army engineers to the ocean where it has created giant algae blooms. It has been very harmful to the tourist industry in Florida, a major source of employment and quality of life for Floridians. All of this to protect a few wealthy well connected families and a crooked state government
74
Thank you for this breaking news. And 40 years from now you will report that technology companies manipulated schools, parents, and children to put computers and mobile phones in the classroom.
51
And that alternative energy companies fabricated a "consensus" about global warming.
2
In addition to the health problems outlined here, the sugar industry has been involved in human rights abuses of farmworkers ( see Edward R. Murrow's 1960, but still relevant classic documentary "Harvest of Shame"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJTVF_dya7E)
as well as the environmental disaster currently on display on both of Florida's beautiful coasts, now spoiled with toxic algae and dead or sickened wildlife and people, largely sparked by agricultural run-off, pesticides and other toxins. This is an ongoing nightmare that has received scant attention in the news, even as people are in the hospital after having had contact with affected waters, or from breathing air near affected areas.
Apparently neither the EPA nor the FDA care enough to take action.
Who exactly are they charged to protect?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJTVF_dya7E)
as well as the environmental disaster currently on display on both of Florida's beautiful coasts, now spoiled with toxic algae and dead or sickened wildlife and people, largely sparked by agricultural run-off, pesticides and other toxins. This is an ongoing nightmare that has received scant attention in the news, even as people are in the hospital after having had contact with affected waters, or from breathing air near affected areas.
Apparently neither the EPA nor the FDA care enough to take action.
Who exactly are they charged to protect?
84
This documentary about sugar will put a sour taste in your mouth.
It is about the production of sugar in the Dominican Republic and the treatment of the Haitians workers on the sugar plantations. The Haitians on these plantations are essentially modern day slaves.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045874/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
It is about the production of sugar in the Dominican Republic and the treatment of the Haitians workers on the sugar plantations. The Haitians on these plantations are essentially modern day slaves.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045874/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
The economic theory of autarky is flawed, but there is an element of truth in there.
We should grow a substantial part of what we eat, as far as we are able.
We should pay fair prices for American labor to do that. That makes a healthier economy. Labor arbitrage is unhealthy for our economy too, not just the people more immediately used for meager wages.
It is safer in the long term as a national security issue too. Imports can be valuable, but import dependence is another thing altogether.
Cutting back on sugar would be good. One standard way to do that is to raise the price of sugar. Domestic production would do that.
We are not better off to close our sugar agriculture, and then import vast amounts of sugar cheap on which we binge.
We should grow a substantial part of what we eat, as far as we are able.
We should pay fair prices for American labor to do that. That makes a healthier economy. Labor arbitrage is unhealthy for our economy too, not just the people more immediately used for meager wages.
It is safer in the long term as a national security issue too. Imports can be valuable, but import dependence is another thing altogether.
Cutting back on sugar would be good. One standard way to do that is to raise the price of sugar. Domestic production would do that.
We are not better off to close our sugar agriculture, and then import vast amounts of sugar cheap on which we binge.
45
I kicked Sugar out of the house years ago. I don't miss her
3
"Cutting back on sugar would be good. One standard way to do that is to raise the price of sugar. Domestic production would do that."
How would "Domestic production" "do that"? And what is "that"? Please clarify.
How would "Domestic production" "do that"? And what is "that"? Please clarify.
The intoxication by the general food industry started with the post WWII economic development. The concept of supermarket increased the use of cars, forcing shopping outside the walking circle. Sugar started to be everywhere. Read the labels, your simple dressing got sugar. The only way to stop this health agony is the cook organic grade food from scratch. No customers, no business, no power to continue. Eat simple, good quality, small portion. Millennials want that because they do not want to have diabetes, and other chronic diseases linked to sugar rich food , they do not Know to cook, rethinking simple cooking to be healthy, the market will follow as usual.
33
Big business giving millions a death sentence for the sake of dollars.
52
This certainly isn't news it's been going on for years. Say and do anything to make a buck.
Excellent article, which discloses the manipulation of the government and the American people by the lies of big business.
71
Sugar is a drug and is highly addictive.
Don't belive me, just try going without it for awhile and see how long you last.
Don't belive me, just try going without it for awhile and see how long you last.
80
You might as well say food is a drug, for the same reasons.
It only takes three days without sugar or sweeteners for your palette to reset and the cravings to abate. I think it is because it takes that long for the bad characters in your gut microbiome stop screaming at you to feed them.
2
I gave up all processed sugar on 11/12/15. I haven't looked back. It was not easy. But it's been worth it.
Yes, sugar is addictive. I agree with you 100% there. And yes, it's difficult to break that addiction. But it is not impossible. It's all about choices.
Once one gets beyond the addiction and realizes how much better they feel every day without a blood stream full of sugar, there'll be no turning back - please believe me on this. I did it. I'm never, ever going back. Sugar is pure poison.
Yes, sugar is addictive. I agree with you 100% there. And yes, it's difficult to break that addiction. But it is not impossible. It's all about choices.
Once one gets beyond the addiction and realizes how much better they feel every day without a blood stream full of sugar, there'll be no turning back - please believe me on this. I did it. I'm never, ever going back. Sugar is pure poison.
3
Personally I must have been subjected to 60 years of implanted false memory which informed me that sugar in any way, shape and form was the worst possible dietary element for one's health; this doesn't seem to agree with the success of the nefarious propaganda campaign you describe. However, I suppose it is awkward, purely in a linguistic way, to frame a blazing jeremiad of an editorial attacking the evil barons of Big Fat...it doesn't quite have the same ring, does it.
5
A month ago, my younger sister and her husband started an eating program called Whole30, that called for radically reshaping what they ate for 30 days. No sugar, no dairy, no alcohol, no grains. Oh well, I thought, that's too extreme for me, but my brother-in-law was motivated to make some big changes in his eating patterns, because his father is diabetic and has lost both lower legs to the disease.
I've never been a dieter, but as a measure of solidarity with their program, I decided to cut back on sugar intake. I haven't gone cold turkey, I still take a tsp of sugar in my morning coffee. But I'm not eating ice cream and baked sweets, and instead of granola (too sweet) with my morning fruit, I'm eating a handful of almonds instead. Interesting -- in 4 weeks I've lost 6 pounds, and it wasn't much effort.
I'm starting to think this sugar business is pretty insidious. And the best way to fight back is at the micro level, by not buying what they're selling. I'm glad to read that soda sales are declining and seltzer water sales are rising. Little by little, the truth is coming out.
I've never been a dieter, but as a measure of solidarity with their program, I decided to cut back on sugar intake. I haven't gone cold turkey, I still take a tsp of sugar in my morning coffee. But I'm not eating ice cream and baked sweets, and instead of granola (too sweet) with my morning fruit, I'm eating a handful of almonds instead. Interesting -- in 4 weeks I've lost 6 pounds, and it wasn't much effort.
I'm starting to think this sugar business is pretty insidious. And the best way to fight back is at the micro level, by not buying what they're selling. I'm glad to read that soda sales are declining and seltzer water sales are rising. Little by little, the truth is coming out.
212
Yes, the truth: Big Seltzer.
Go to the back of your Costco store. You'll see countless pallets of bottled water: the biggest scam yet. We are now pay big bucks for what is totally free-- good water.
The problem is Big Stupid....
Go to the back of your Costco store. You'll see countless pallets of bottled water: the biggest scam yet. We are now pay big bucks for what is totally free-- good water.
The problem is Big Stupid....
10
Follow-up to my previous reply. Your weight loss is explained by your reduced calorie intake, not by your reduced sugar consumption.
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream:
Calories 145
Calories from Fat 71
Sugars 15.3g (59 calories)
NB: Google will calculate the calories in sugar. Search for "15.3g sugar calories".
Source: Google search for "nutrition label vanilla ice cream", which led to caloriecount.com.
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream:
Calories 145
Calories from Fat 71
Sugars 15.3g (59 calories)
NB: Google will calculate the calories in sugar. Search for "15.3g sugar calories".
Source: Google search for "nutrition label vanilla ice cream", which led to caloriecount.com.
Whole30 has been a life changer for me. Eliminating sugar for the last whole30 days has shifted me away from "one quick sugar fix " to a healthy diet with healthy recipes and healthy food choices.
1
"Just a spoonful of sugar helps life-expectancy go down,
Life-expectancy go down, left-expectancy go down,
In the most deceitful way!"
Life-expectancy go down, left-expectancy go down,
In the most deceitful way!"
105
Brilliant!
I spent 20 years researching various effects of sugar on eating and body weight, mostly for NIH-funded grants. But with every move I made, I felt pressure from the sugar and soft-drink industries, who would vacillate between criticizing my work and trying to hire me. I eventually grew disgusted by it all and became a stay-at-home mom, raising my autistic son. Speaking truth to power is an uphill battle, and I wish the next generation good luck!
282
"... I felt pressure from the sugar and soft-drink industries, who would vacillate between criticizing my work and trying to hire me."
Could you be more specific? In what form or forum was your work criticized? How did they attempt to hire you?
Could you be more specific? In what form or forum was your work criticized? How did they attempt to hire you?
All one has to do is walk down a grocery store aisle to observe firsthand the full extent of the sugar industry's total control of and influence over the American public. Entire aisles are devoted to cookies, candy and an endless array of sugar soaked empty foods while the mirror image can be found in the frozen foods aisle as well: entire aisles devoted to ice cream products while the frozen vegetable foods section is less than a third of ice cream. Addiction by sugar is profoundly real. I'd like to see an investigation of the "corporate" doctors that come out of the Ivy League.
180
Absolutely. And it's not just the obvious sweet treats and sugar-infused breakfast cereals. Sugar is in a wide array of foods in which it is simply not needed. Why would a salad dressing labeled Red Wine & Olive Oil Vinaigrette contain cane sugar? The more that I read food labels, the more I see sugar unnecessarily added to many non-sweet foods. In the case of the vinaigrette, which I personally sampled, it does not taste sweet. So what's the point of adding sugar?
As much as this sounds like conspiracy mongering, the only reasons I can determine for adding small amounts of sugar to so many foods which don't need it are: 1) it increases the product placements - i.e., markets - for Big Sugar to make a profit, and, 2) if one ingests small amounts of a drug like opiates all the time, the body becomes dependent. In the case of sugar laced foods of every stripe, Big Sugar can keep selling its "drug" to food manufacturers whose products the sugar addicts are buying, millions of us, even unwittingly.
The book, "Sugar Blues", was written years ago, outlining this problem of sugar addiction and its health effects, one of many such books, but it was arguably the leader. It's high time that the sugar industry finally goes under the public microscope in a big way.
As much as this sounds like conspiracy mongering, the only reasons I can determine for adding small amounts of sugar to so many foods which don't need it are: 1) it increases the product placements - i.e., markets - for Big Sugar to make a profit, and, 2) if one ingests small amounts of a drug like opiates all the time, the body becomes dependent. In the case of sugar laced foods of every stripe, Big Sugar can keep selling its "drug" to food manufacturers whose products the sugar addicts are buying, millions of us, even unwittingly.
The book, "Sugar Blues", was written years ago, outlining this problem of sugar addiction and its health effects, one of many such books, but it was arguably the leader. It's high time that the sugar industry finally goes under the public microscope in a big way.
15
Must....eat....sugar....
I knew that something or someone had "total control" of American life. Now I understand....it's sugar!
I knew that something or someone had "total control" of American life. Now I understand....it's sugar!
1
Sorry, Marylou, but it is not industry manipulation stocking the aisles with sugary - and fatty - products. It is our inherent nature going back to the dawn of man for us to crave the energy and the protein provided by sugars and fats, respectively. Until we as humans are genetically modified when machines become our overlords, that's the way it will continue to be.
1
"Their plea for scientific objectivity may have sounded sensible, but it masked nefarious aims."
It took more than 50 years for JAMA to expose the chicanery employed by the sugar giants. Let's hope it doesn't take the JAMA as long to expose big biotech's manipulation of the EPA, FDA — and itself!
Crops genetically engineered to generate their own poisonous insecticide — Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) — and immunity to another poison — glyphosate — have so far had a free-ride through regulatory agencies specifically designed to protect the public interest.
To boost an industry emerging in the 1980's, the FDA and EPA chose to rely almost entirely on safety studies that were conducted on rats and for only for a small duration of their full life cycle. To date there have been zero epidemiological or clinical studies done in the USA on human beings regarding the possible harmful effects of two poisons: glyphosate, a probable carcinogen, and Bt.
No cohort studies either and with the July passage of the aptly dubbed DARK Act, serious scientific examination of GE foods' effects on humans has been deterred once again.
Meanwhile, the FDA recently found US honey has residue levels of glyphosate double the limit allowed in the EU.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-gillam/fda-finds-monsantos-weed_b_12...
The JAMA has exposed big sugar's deceptiveness. Time now for it to re-examine GE foods, an industry much closer to home.
Time for an integrity check, JAMA.
It took more than 50 years for JAMA to expose the chicanery employed by the sugar giants. Let's hope it doesn't take the JAMA as long to expose big biotech's manipulation of the EPA, FDA — and itself!
Crops genetically engineered to generate their own poisonous insecticide — Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) — and immunity to another poison — glyphosate — have so far had a free-ride through regulatory agencies specifically designed to protect the public interest.
To boost an industry emerging in the 1980's, the FDA and EPA chose to rely almost entirely on safety studies that were conducted on rats and for only for a small duration of their full life cycle. To date there have been zero epidemiological or clinical studies done in the USA on human beings regarding the possible harmful effects of two poisons: glyphosate, a probable carcinogen, and Bt.
No cohort studies either and with the July passage of the aptly dubbed DARK Act, serious scientific examination of GE foods' effects on humans has been deterred once again.
Meanwhile, the FDA recently found US honey has residue levels of glyphosate double the limit allowed in the EU.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-gillam/fda-finds-monsantos-weed_b_12...
The JAMA has exposed big sugar's deceptiveness. Time now for it to re-examine GE foods, an industry much closer to home.
Time for an integrity check, JAMA.
145
As long as real starvation is a far bigger problem in the world than a hypothetical danger of Genetic Engineering, we should go with scientific consensus rather than New Age alarmism. And suggesting that, in the era of Global Warming, it is better to lower the efficiency of food production than simply cutting back on consumption, is downright ridiculous.
So one single article helps set nutrition policy for decades? The scandal isn't really that the Harvard people were paid to publish because we are always going to have biased and just plain wrong scientific research. The problem here is how easy it was to establish a "consensus" and then how the rest of the scientific community blindly supports that consensus. On the other hand, the article says that many decades before, increasing sugar consumption became a goal of federal policy. SO it sounds like this offending article was just confirming what the government had been telling people and what they already believed and since there was little obesity or diabetes in those years, why would anyone doubt it. Finally the NYT gives the impression that the sugar industry alone was promoting itself. But were cattle ranchers, vegetable farmers and every other food producer group promoting their own product as healthful? So to single out this corrupt research doesn't tell the whole story.
62
Gee - maybe even alternative energy companies have been building "consensus" about climate change.
1
The article singles out the Sugar industry because of the rare documentary proof that has surfaced over one instance out of what we may assume was many.
4
As a French medical doctor in the 80s in Chicago I had a candy and soda free home. My American colleagues were looking at me as a conservative French aristocrate making a victim of my daughter. 30 years later my daughter does not know what is a cavity, looks 25-28 apparently in good health. The pharmaceutical companies are making money with diabetes treatments, statins and ED. They support all peer medical journals. If tomorrow I present a well done study to lower cholesterol with a special tea I investigated 40 years ago when the statins where not yet available , be sure the article will be not publish because it is in conflict of interest with the journal paid by the industry. It iwill be the same for a study to prevent diabetes. I refuse to enter in the sugar propaganda 1/ because I knew I have genetically I have a high risk to have diabetes, Prevention matters 2/ I was rich enough to refuse a very high paid job. I have been sick poisoned by my medicine, saved by nutrition, I can't accept this kind of corruption, you must know also that a french doctor loses hi licence in case of working for the pharmaceutical when in practice.
22
- now a perfect storm trifecta all in one, with the pot sweetened (oops) with racism classism, slavery, and robber baron capitalism, and corporate/media/ Big Government hypocrisy and corrupt science and media manipulation
Remember, "when donuts are outlaws, only outlaws will have donuts"
= =
And we have only scratched the surface of color-ism in WHITE v BROWN sugar,
and oh dear 'RAW' sugar as some dog whistle or other, and the elitism of 'refined'
=
see please,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Sugar_(The_Rolling_Stones_song)
Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones song)
" 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Rolling Stone"
sugar and sticky fingers...
"The song was written by Jagger with Marsha Hunt in mind; "
(woman of color and Jagger's baby momma
from wiki
""Brown Sugar"'s popularity indeed often overshadowed its scandalous lyrics,.. pastiche of a number of taboo subjects, including slavery, interracial sex, cunnilingus, and less distinctly, sadomasochism, lost virginity, rape, and heroin."
"they debuted the number live during the infamous concert at Altamont on 6 December. "
Altamont (high hill) was where some bikers, doing security killed a black man, he with gun they with knives, captured on film by the Maysles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimme_Shelter_(1970_film)
The 60s will NEVER die, "rock'n'roll never forgets"
oh yeah sugar, oh well I've just nodded off on a sugar high flashback