Sugar industry loses sweetness

The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) is accredited to the WHO and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and dedicated to "being part of a solution to the problem of obesity through a strategy of health promotion programs designed to promote balanced nutrition". Sounds great. Unfortunately, its donors list reads like a who's who of corporations dedicated to promoting obesity. British Sugar Plc, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Interbrew, Mars, Nestle, Pepsi-Co etc., etc.

Somewhat unsurprisingly then, when a draft World Health Organisation (WHO) report entitled "Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases" suggested that sugar should account for no more than 10% of a healthy diet, the sugar industry responded by demanding that Congress end its $406 million funding unless the report was binned. The Sugar Association said it would "exercise every avenue available to expose the dubious nature" of the report and rejected the report's conclusion that sweetened soft drinks were contributing to the obesity pandemic. So much for "seeking to improve the well-being of the general public". According to the sugar industry it is perfectly acceptable for a quarter of our intake of food and drink to consist of sugar. This is despite WHO assertions that a team of 30 independent experts had considered the scientific evidence and its conclusions were in line with the findings of 23 national reports which have, on average, set targets of 10% for added sugars. The report was published regardless of the industry's threats on April 23rd. Whether the sugar industry remains sweet looks doubtful.

Sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,940287,00.html
http://www.ilsi.org/about/#aff
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/en/