Why are We Scared of Fatty Foods? It’s a Conspiracy

We’re not too conspiracy-minded around here at Cardio High, but a new report that goes all the way back to the 1960s shows that America’s hatred of fat may stem from an unlikely culprit: the sugar lobby.

Think we’re making this up? Check out the following from this article:

The documents show that a trade group called the Sugar Research Foundation, known today as the Sugar Association, paid three Harvard scientists the equivalent of about $50,000 in today’s dollars to publish a 1967 review of sugar, fat and heart research. The studies used in the review were handpicked by the sugar group, and the article, which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, minimized the link between sugar and heart health and cast aspersions on the role of saturated fat.

And it gets worse, because one of those scientists ended up at the head of nutrition at the US Dept. of Agriculture… and they helped create America’s diet in 1977.

This whole thing is absolutely fascinating, and whether or not the research the doctors did is true or not, it was a huge boon for the sugar industry since so many low-fat foods are actually packed with the stuff.

We really suggest reading the entire article and seeing how far down this actually went. We also suggest limiting added sugar to 6 teaspoons (24 grams) per day for women and 9 teaspoons for men (36 grams). A 12 ounce Coke and other soft drinks have up to 48 grams of sugar.

-Shane M.