–Industry-sponsored study questions current guidelines on dietary sugar. Dietary guidelines relating to sugar— all of which recommend significant reductions in sugar intake— are based on weak evidence and are not trustworthy, according to a systematic review published in Annals of Internal Medicine. But an accompanying editorial points out that the systematic review is itself not…
Lunchroom Scandal At The AHA: Day Two Of Buttergate
November 15, 2016 by 5 Comments
–After a CardioBrief investigation the American Heart Association changes the lunchroom menu There is no better proof that journalism can change the world– both for the good and the bad– than Buttergate. Yesterday your intrepid reporter exposed the ongoing scandal of Buttergate taking place within the press lunchroom at the American Heart Association meeting in New…
Is The American Heart Association Trying To Kill Health Reporters?
November 14, 2016 by 4 Comments
The answer is no. The AHA is not trying to kill us. But its dietary advice is consistently confusing and occasionally wrong, and health reporters in New Orleans may end up as collateral damage. Just take a look at what’s being served in the press room at the big American Heart Association meeting going on now…
How Sweet: Sugar Industry Made Fat the Villain
September 13, 2016 by 3 Comments
–Harvard researchers received sugar industry money to write a NEJM review. Newly uncovered documents reveal that 50 years ago the sugar industry gave secret support to prominent Harvard researchers to write an influential series of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine that downplayed the negative effects of sugar. Instead, the articles shifted the blame…
Changes In Eskimo Diet Linked To Increase In Heart Disease
July 29, 2016 by 7 Comments
New paper explores the fascinating history of research into the Eskimo diet. The Eskimo diet and its effect on the heart has been a source of confusion and contention for decades. The observation that Eskimos, who traditionally consumed large amounts of saturated fat and small amounts of carbohydrates, had low rates of heart disease appeared…
A Coke, A Smile, And 120 Million Dollars
September 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
As I’ve reported in the past Coca-Cola has a long history of giving money to medical organizations and researchers. Now we know just how much. In response to a New York Times story this summer, Coke has disclosed details of its financial support to a great number and broad variety of health organizations and initiatives. Over the past five years, it…
More Evidence Linking Sugared Drinks To Diabetes
April 30, 2015 by 1 Comment
A new study uncovers some potentially important new details about the association between sugared drinks and diabetes. In a paper published in Diabetologia [pdf], researchers in the UK report on a study of more than 25,000 adults. Over the course of more than 10 years of followup 847 participants went on to develop diabetes. Instead of relying on a food…
Get Rid of Sugar, Not Salt, Say Authors
December 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Too much negative attention has been focused on salt and not enough on sugar, write two authors in Open Heart. Reviewing the extensive literature on salt and sugar, they write that the adverse effects of salt are less than the adverse effects of sugar. The evidence supporting efforts to reduce salt in the diet is not convincing…
The Not So Sweet Facts About Sugar
February 3, 2014 by 1 Comment
A new study offers a broad overview of the use of sugar in the US diet and its consequent health implications. The good news is that the growth in sugar intake appears to have stopped and may even have slightly declined. The bad news is that people still consume way too much sugar and that…
Big Sugar Tips The Balance Of The Research Scale
December 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It might seem obvious: people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages are more likely to gain weight or to be obese. Most research supports this intuitive finding. The big exception: when researchers receive support from the sugar and beverage industries they are much less likely to make the connection. Researchers in Germany and Spain conducted a systematic…
Cardiology Goes Better With Coke
July 23, 2013 by 3 Comments
At the bottom of this post I’ve reprinted an email cardiologists are receiving from the American College of Cardiology. See the bottom of the message for the disclosure that Coca Cola is paying for this educational program. I don’t have much to say about this though I wonder what the faculty of this program will…
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