Documents confirming the fact that as early as the end of 1960 sugar and sweet drink producers were aware of the harmful properties of sugar, American scientists discovered.
From the public, they concealed that the consequence of the consumption of sugar can be atherosclerosis and bladder cancer. This is described in an article published in the journal PLoS Biology.
Stanton Glantz of the University of California in San Francisco (USA) believes that such manipulations in the scientific process are very similar to what manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products do.
According to the scientist, the findings suggest that all research sponsored by sugar and sweet drinks producers “can be taken seriously in the preparation of new policy measures.”
The scientists made their conclusion by studying the grant archives and experimental data that were conducted in the last half-century under the auspices of the International Fund for the Study of Sugar (ISRF).
Studying documents and various working papers left by ISRF-sponsored scientists, the Glanza team came across a curious experiment, Project 259, which was conducted at the University of Birmingham by Professor Walter Pover from 1967 to 1971.
In these experiments, as American biologists discovered, Powers and his colleagues observed how a diet consisting almost entirely of pure sugar affected the metabolism and health of the heart and vessel of several dozen rats that did not suffer from disease or congenital genetic defects.
Two “new” negative effects associated with sugar were quickly discovered: it not only promoted the development of obesity, but also accelerated the accumulation of triglycerides and other fats in the blood of rodents, which increased the likelihood of developing atherosclerosis and other problems with the heart and blood vessels. In addition, it turned out that large doses of sugar contribute to the development of some forms of cancer of the bladder.
Preliminary conclusions of Pover and his team became known to ISRY representatives shortly before the publication of the scientists’ conclusions. After that, funding for the research of the British scientist was discontinued, and the results of the experiments were buried for a long time in the archives.