A Spoonful of Propaganda

Remember all the warnings that sugar was bad for you? It still is, says Aubrey Sheiham, professor of dental public health at University College, London - but food companies are covering it up. The sugar industry's tactics have included infiltrating nutritional advisory boards, threats of legal action against critical researchers like Sheiham, and funding of front groups such as the International Life Sciences Institute (founded in 1978 by Coca-Cola and other food companies). "The sugar industry has learned the tricks of the tobacco industry," says Professor Philip James, deputy director of the Medical Research Council clinical nutrition department in Cambridge. "Confuse the public. Produce experts who disagree, try to dilute the message, indicate that there are extremists like me involved in public health."