The Sugar Research Foundation sponsored its first heart disease research in 1965. The literature was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and blamed fat and cholesterol as the dietary causes of heart disease and downplayed evidence that sugar was also a risk factor. The Journal of the American Medical Association put out a review of industry documents in November of 2016. They found that the research put out by the Sugar Research Foundation in the 1960s and 1970s highlighted the idea that fat causes heart disease while “refuting” concerns of sugars role in heart disease. This shaped the overall scientific discussion that “fat caused heart disease” and influenced policy making, medical education, and decades of nutritional advice. Since the 1960s, we’ve been taking fat out of our diets while heart disease and deaths continue to skyrocket.
When something isn’t working, you have to try a different approach, yet most doctors continue to push the low fat or fat free diets on patients. While I am glad the truth is being sought after from a prominent medical journal, it will still take time for new information to trickle down influence policy and education. Industry-funded studies should always be taken with a grain of salt and consideration put into where the funding was coming from and who benefits from the result. This is why knowledge is power. We should be seeking truth instead of blindly following what we are told to believe.
I can tell you that it is easier and more comfortable to turn a blind eye and go with the crowd not questioning things, but easy and comfortable will never allow us to reach our God-given potential. Just because something is common in our culture, doesn’t mean it is right. It is important that as adults we remember that and we teach it to our children and grandchildren. This is why we talk you about constantly coming to workshops to teach you the right information when it comes to your health. As the holidays come around and we have time with our families, think about you know and love that is close to you but far from health.
Who wants to be well but doesn’t have the right information? Who needs to be exposed to truth? Who is continuing to suffer with sickness and disease as a result of the wrong information? Pick them up and bring them to the next workshop and lead them to another approach and another option when it comes to their health. If you have someone on your heart, let us know. We have a friends and family week coming up to make it easy for them to get introduced to the information you have learned here! Let’s make 2020 about being uncomfortable to be the best version of ourselves. Lets make 2020 about seeking truth and getting better with age. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” -Tony Robbins
In Health,
Dr Erin Zovath
Kearns CE, Schmidt LA, Glantz SA. Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(11):1680–1685. doi: