UCSF Research Finds Sugar Industry Influenced Government Advice On Cavities In 1960s & 70s

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Researchers at UCSF found the sugar industry worked closely with government scientists in the 1960s and 70s on research to find ways to cut cavities and may have pushed them away from advice urging people to eat less sugar.

The researchers found the sugar industry cultivated relationships with the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR). They also found sugar industry experts were also part of a panel that influenced priorities for a government program to reduce tooth decay.

"The dental community has always known that preventing tooth decay required restricting sugar intake," UCSF postdoctoral scholar Cristin Kearns who discovered the archives, said in a written statement. "It was disappointing to learn that the policies we are debating today could have been addressed more than forty years ago."

The documents also showed that a sugar industry trading association had accepted the fact that sugar caused tooth decay as early as 1950.

"These tactics are strikingly similar to what we saw in the tobacco industry in the same era," co-author Stanton A. Glantz said. In the 1990s, Glantz analyzed tobacco industry papers, which led to the successful prosecution of the major tobacco companies.

The Sugar Association, an industry trade group, told Time Magazine, "[W]e are confused as to the relevance of attempts to dredge up history when decades of modern science has provided answers regarding the role of diet in the pathogenesis of dental caries… A combined approach of reducing the amount of time sugars and starches are in the mouth, drinking fluoridated water, and brushing and flossing teeth, is the most effective way to reduce dental caries."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tooth decay is the leading chronic disease among U.S. children, with more than half of kids and teens having cavities in their adult teeth.

The analysis appears in the journal PLoS Medicine.