Turns Out, The Sugar Industry May Have Misled Us Into Eating A Low-Fat Diet

For years, we heard that fat was the ultimate nutritional enemy, and so came a slew of low-fat and fat-free products that were considered the favorable alternative.

We now know that fat isn’t exactly as terrible as it was made out to be, but apparently this wasn’t just a case of outdated research. According to a report published by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the sugar industry paid Harvard researchers to place the blame of heart disease on fat instead of sugar.

The review looked at historical food industry documents, and it found that in 1967, a food industry group called the Sugar Research Foundation paid three Harvard researchers $6,500 to discount research that found a link between sugar intake and heart disease. They then sponsored research that concluded that cutting out fat was the best way to prevent coronary heart disease.

Recent studies now prove that there is not enough evidence that we need to cut fat out of our diet, but on the flip side, there are plenty of studies that show the negative effects of sugar. Pretty crazy, right?

Although new facts about health, food and our diets continue to emerge, it’s important to take a look at who funds these studies, as you never know who has a hidden agenda.

Photo by tarale