Many Americans were surprised this week by revelations that the sugar industry paid Harvard scientists 50 years ago for research that conveniently shifted attention away from sugar’s role in heart disease by placing the spotlight on dietary fat instead, says NPR.
And yet, what most American consumers still don’t know is that the overwhelming majority of present-day nutrition studies are funded by the food industry.
“Nutrition scholar Marion Nestle of New York University spent a year informally tracking industry-funded studies on food,” write Maria Godoy and Rhitu Chatterjee, and she found that approximately 90% of almost 170 individual studies supported the sponsor’s interest — “other systematic reviews support her conclusions.”
