Guidelines to Limit Added Sugar Intake: Junk Science or Junk Food?
Authors: Dean Schillinger, Cristin Kearns
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2016)

Editorials21 February 2017Guidelines to Limit Added Sugar Intake: Junk Science or Junk Food?Dean Schillinger, MD and Cristin Kearns, DDS, MBADean Schillinger, MDFrom UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, San Francisco, and UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies and UCSF School of Dentistry, San Francisco, California. and Cristin Kearns, DDS, MBAFrom UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, San Francisco, and UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies and UCSF School of Dentistry, San Francisco, California.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2754 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail When it comes to added sugars, there are clear conflicts between public health interests and the interests of the food and beverage (F&B) industry. Studies are more likely to conclude there is no relationship between sugar consumption and health outcomes when investigators receive financial support from F&B companies (1). Industry documents show that the F&B industry has manipulated research on sugars for public relations purposes (2). Erickson and colleagues report a systematic review of the scientific basis of guidelines on sugar intake, providing another occasion for concern about these conflicts (3). The review examined 9 guidelines that offered 12 recommendations ...References1. Schillinger D, Tran J, Mangurian C, Kearns C. Do sugar-sweetened beverages cause obesity and diabetes? Industry and the manufacture of scientific controversy. Ann Intern Med. 2016 Nov 1. [Epub ahead of print]. [PMID: 27802504]. doi:10.7326/L16-0534 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Kearns CE, Schmidt LA, Glantz SA. Sugar industry and coronary heart disease research: a historical analysis of internal industry documents. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176:1680-1685. [PMID: 27617709] doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.5394 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Erickson J, Sadeghirad B, Lytvyn L, Slavin J, Johnston BC. The scientific basis of guideline recommendations on sugar intake. A systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166:257-67. doi:10.7326/M16-2020 LinkGoogle Scholar4. ILSI North America. 2015 Annual Report. Washington, DC: ILSI North America; 2016. Accessed at http://ilsi.wpengine.com/northamerica/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/05/2015-Annual-Report-2015-Jan-19.pdf on 30 November 2016. Google Scholar5. Samet JM, Burke TA. Turning science into junk: the tobacco industry and passive smoking. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:1742-4. [PMID: 11684591] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. The AGREE Research Trust. Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II Instrument. 2009. Accessed at www.agreetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AGREE_II_Users_Manual_and_23-item_Instrument_ENGLISH.pdf on 30 November 2016. Google Scholar7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. Department of Agriculture. A Series of Systematic Reviews on the Relationship Between Dietary Patterns and Health Outcomes. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture; 2015. Google Scholar8. Bolsen T, Druckman JN. Counteracting the politicization of science. J Commun. 2015;65:745-69. doi:10.1111/jcom.12171 CrossrefGoogle Scholar9. The trouble with sugar [transcript]. BBC News. BBC. 4 March 2003. Accessed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/panorama/transcripts/thetroublewithsugar.txt on 30 November 2016. Google Scholar10. Norum KR. World Health Organization's global strategy on diet, physical activity and health: the process behind the scenes. Food Nutr Res. 2005;49:83-8. CrossrefGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, San Francisco, and UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies and UCSF School of Dentistry, San Francisco, California.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M16-2754.Corresponding Author: Dean Schillinger, MD, UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, UCSF Box 1364, San Francisco, CA 94143; e-mail, dean.[email protected]edu.Current Author Addresses: Dr. Schillinger: UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, UCSF Box 1364, San Francisco, CA 94143.Dr. Kearns: University of California, San Francisco, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390.This article was published at Annals.org on 20 December 2016. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Scientific Basis of Guideline Recommendations on Sugar Intake Jennifer Erickson , Behnam Sadeghirad , Lyubov Lytvyn , Joanne Slavin , and Bradley C. Johnston Guidelines to Limit Added Sugar Intake Cristin Kearns and Dean Schillinger Guidelines to Limit Added Sugar Intake Melissa C. Brouwers , Amir Qaseem , Karen Spithoff , and Ivan D. 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Brouwers, PhD, Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA, Karen Spithoff, MSc, and Ivan D. Florez, MD, MScDietary Sugars and Endogenous Formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts: Emerging Mechanisms of DiseaseA Perspective 21 February 2017Volume 166, Issue 4Page: 305-306KeywordsEatingFoodGrading of Recommendations Assessment Development and EvaluationHospital medicineLibrariesNutritionPrevention, policy, and public healthResearch quality assessmentSystematic reviewsTreatment guidelines ePublished: 20 December 2016 Issue Published: 21 February 2017 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2016 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...