Mrs. Idonthaveaphd
A British scientist from 1972, warned us that sugar is the main villain to our health and not fat. However, his research was abashed and he was shunned. What appalls me is how the greatest scientists in the world did not notice this uptil now!
A 90-minute long video that was uploaded in YouTube back in 2009, titled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, now has over six million views. In the video, Robert Lustig explains that fructose, a form of sugar omnipresent in most conventional diets, is the poison responsible for the obesity epidemic of America.
About a year before the video was uploaded, Lustig explained the same things in a seminar for biochemists in Adelaide, Australia. Later on, a scientist from the audience reminded Lustig about Yudkin and his research. John Yudkin, the scientist explained, was a professor of nutrition from Britain who set off the sugar alarm in the 1970s, in a book called Pure, White, and Deadly. The book was selling well, but Yudkin had to suffer for it. Well-known nutritionists teamed up with the food industry to tarnish his reputation and his career never saw the sun after that. He passed away in 1995, as a dissatisfied and forgotten.
For the last three centuries, the nutritional component everyone blamed for all health issues has been “fat”. Back in the 1960s, when Yudkin was researching on the effects of sugar, a new nutritional policy was on the horizon. It roamed around the fact that a healthy diet low in fat. By the time Yudkin wrote his book, the fat hypothesis already had the lead. Yudkin, of course, fought for his beliefs, but was left defeated nonetheless.
After Lustig returned to his home in California, he searched for Pure, White and Deadly in bookstores, libraries, and online book portals, but failed to find a copy. Ultimately, he did find a copy after submitting a request to his university library. After reading all of Yudkin’s theories, he amused at how Yudkin already had the answers 35 years before him!
After having long conversations with some of the most prominent American scientists, the US government deployed its first Dietary Guidelines. Doctors and food companies alike based their guidelines and ingredient label on them, and millions of people were almost following the same diet. The Uk government, later on, issued the same dietary guidelines. Yet, to this day, the sugar conspiracy is still unable to stir up any action.