Sugar Industry Had Significant Role in Shaping Government’s Cavity Advice in 1970s

YelenaYemchuk/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — While the National Institute of Health was aiming to reduce dental cavities in the 1960s and 1970s, the sugar industry may have helped push researchers towards prevention strategies instead of reducing sugar consumption.

According to a study published in the Public Library of Science’s PLoS Medicine journal, the National Institute for Dental Research planned a targeted research program in 1966 that would help identify “interventions for widespread application to eradicate” tooth decay. Researchers found that documents from the cane and beet sugar industry acknowledged the role of sucrose in causing tooth decay, instead deflecting the attention elsewhere.

The sugar industry then funded research for alternative strategies that did not require a restriction in sugar content, built relationships with NIDR leadership and submitted a report, 78 percent of which was incorporated into the NIDR’s eventual call for research applications.

As a result, the researchers say, the 1971 National Caries Program was a “missed opportunity to develop a scientific understanding of how to restrict sugar consumption to prevent tooth decay.”

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