The discovery of a cluster of documents revealed that the sugar industry worked closely with the National Institutes of Health in the 1960s and 1970s to develop federal research programs that worked to help prevent tooth decay in children. These studies appeared to be part of an agenda because they looked at ways to reduce tooth decay without cutting back on sugar consumption.
The documents showed a sugar industry trade organization had accepted the evidence that sugar caused tooth decay as far back as 1950, but had made actions to find alternative methods of prevention, the University of California, San Francisco reported. In 1969, the National Institutes of Health came to the conclusion that focusing on reducing sucrose consumption was not a practical public health strategy.
To find a "more effective" method for reducing tooth decay among the general public, the sugar industry trade organization and NIH worked together and produced a variety of research on the subject.
"The dental community has always known that preventing tooth decay required restricting sugar intake," said first author Cristin Kearns, a UCSF postdoctoral scholar who discovered the archives. "It was disappointing to learn that the policies we are debating today could have been addressed more than forty years ago."
An analysis of the 1,551 pages of documents provided insight into how the sugar industry influenced the research policies of the 1971 National Caries (Tooth Decay) Program. The researchers found the sugar industry funded researcher on enzymes that break up dental plaque as well as vaccines against tooth decay. Despite the efforts, the majority of the research failed to produce results that could be applicable on a large scale.
The analysis also revealed a sugar industry expert panel overlapped all but one member with the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR), and had an enormous influence over the decisions of the NIH tooth decay program.
"Our findings are a wake-up call for government officials charged with protecting the public health, as well as public health advocates, to understand that the sugar industry, like the tobacco industry, seeks to protect profits over public health," said UCSF co-author Stanton A. Glantz.
The researchers noted that they understand the papers give a glimpse of just a short time in the history of the activities of these groups, but pointed out the sugar industry's current position remains that the public should turn to tooth decay prevention methods such as using fluoride toothpaste instead of reducing sugar consumption.
"There is robust evidence now linking excess sugar consumption with heart disease, diabetes and liver disease, in addition to tooth decay," said Laura A. Schmidt, who also is principal investigator on the UCSF-led SugarScience initiative. "Times have definitely changed since that era, but this is a stark lesson in what can happen if we are not careful about maintaining scientific integrity."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal PLOS Medicine.
