For decades, Americans were told that fat was the enemy—public health campaigns, nutrition guidelines, and even food labels screamed the same message: avoid fat at all costs.
But what if this widespread belief was never based on unbiased science?
What if it was, in fact, the result of a calculated effort by the sugar industry to manipulate public opinion and scientific research?
A groundbreaking study from UC San Francisco has exposed how, in the 1950s and 1960s, the sugar industry deliberately paid scientists to shift the blame for heart disease away from sugar and onto fat.
This revelation isn’t just a historical curiosity—it has had profound and lasting consequences, shaping decades of nutritional advice and directly impacting public health.
The Hidden Hand of the Sugar Industry
The UC San Francisco researchers combed through more than 340 internal sugar industry documents and found damning evidence of manipulation.
In 1965, the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF)—now known as the Sugar Association—paid the equivalent of $50,000 in today’s money to fund a research project that downplayed sugar’s role in heart disease.
Instead, the scientists focused their findings on cholesterol and saturated fat as the main culprits.
The result? A landmark paper published in 1967 that played a pivotal role in demonizing fat while conveniently exonerating sugar.
The sugar industry didn’t just fund this research—they actively set the agenda, supplied materials, and even reviewed drafts before publication.
And yet, at no point was this financial influence disclosed.
“The literature review helped shape not only public opinion on what causes heart problems but also the scientific community’s view of how to evaluate dietary risk factors for heart disease,” said Cristin Kearns, lead author of the study.
This industry-funded deception paved the way for the low-fat diet trend that swept across the United States in the following decades.
Food manufacturers, eager to comply with new dietary guidelines, began replacing fat with sugar—exactly what the sugar industry had hoped for.
The result? An explosion in sugar consumption and an increase in diet-related diseases.
The Sugar Industry’s Long History of Manipulation
This isn’t the first time that Big Sugar has meddled with science.
A similar case was exposed in 2015, revealing how the industry had successfully influenced dental research to downplay the role of sugar in tooth decay.
Rather than recommending reduced sugar consumption, research conveniently focused on fluoride as the primary preventive measure.
But the most alarming part? This tactic isn’t just a relic of the past.
A Pattern That Still Persists
One might assume that scientific integrity has improved since the 1960s. However, corporate influence over public health research remains a pressing issue today.
In fact, Coca-Cola was caught using the exact same playbook in 2015.
The beverage giant secretly donated $1.5 million to a so-called nutrition nonprofit, only for emails to later reveal that Coca-Cola had a hand in choosing the organization’s leaders, shaping its mission statement, and influencing its research agenda.
Coca-Cola, like the sugar industry before it, was attempting to cast doubt on the scientific consensus—this time, by deflecting blame for obesity away from sugary drinks and onto lack of exercise.
A Nation Addicted to Sugar
The impact of this decades-long deception is staggering.
According to the Obesity Society, Americans today consume 30% more sugar daily than they did three decades ago.
Children, in particular, are consuming three times the recommended amount of added sugar—setting them up for a lifetime of health complications.
The low-fat craze, initially driven by the sugar industry’s deceptive research, led to a massive shift in the food industry.
Fat was stripped from products, replaced with sugar, and marketed as “healthy.”
But as we now know, excessive sugar consumption is linked to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—the very problems that the sugar industry worked to conceal.
The Sugar Industry Responds—With More Deflection
Unsurprisingly, the modern Sugar Association—the successor to the Sugar Research Foundation—has attempted to downplay the new study’s revelations.
In a defensive statement, the organization admitted that transparency standards were not the norm in the 1960s but claimed that industry-funded research is still valuable today:
“Generally speaking, it is not only unfortunate but a disservice that industry-funded research is branded as tainted…
We question this author’s continued attempts to reframe historical occurrences to conveniently align with the currently trending anti-sugar narrative.”
Their response is eerily similar to the tactics used by Big Tobacco in the past—casting doubt on research, accusing scientists of bias, and insisting that their products aren’t uniquely harmful despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
What Needs to Change?
The history of industry-funded nutrition research raises important questions about the credibility of dietary guidelines and the trustworthiness of scientific studies.
Here’s what must change to prevent history from repeating itself:
- Full Disclosure of Industry Funding: Any research funded by food or beverage companies must clearly state potential conflicts of interest.
- Independent Scientific Review: Government agencies and universities should prioritize publicly funded research over industry-backed studies.
- Consumer Awareness: People must be educated about how corporate influence can distort scientific findings, just as we now recognize the deceptive tactics used by the tobacco industry.
The Real Cost of Deception
For over half a century, Americans have been misled about what constitutes a healthy diet.
The demonization of fat and the promotion of sugar weren’t based on sound science but rather on corporate interests and financial incentives.
How many lives and dollars could have been saved if the industry had not manipulated science?
As Jim Krieger, executive director of Health Food America, put it:
“Only 50 years later are we waking up to the true harm from sugar.
Yet industry continues to use its time-honored tactics of creating doubt about valid science and deflecting blame from their products.”
The truth is clear: Sugar isn’t just an innocent sweetener—it’s a public health crisis. And if we don’t hold the industry accountable, history will repeat itself.
