Diabetes Association Gets Sugar Money, Says Sugar Unrelated to Disease
While we don't pretend to be a medical expert, we've certainly heard sugar has a little something to do with a disease called Diabetes. Well, after sugary soft drink marketer Cadbury Schweppes entered into a three-year, multi-million dollar alliance, American Diabetes Association Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Richard Kahn seems to think otherwise and told Corporate Crime Reporter, in an interview, "What is the evidence that sugar itself has anything to do with diabetes? There is no evidence."
Without missing a beat, Gary Ruskin's Commercial Alert is on the case. "Saying that sugar has nothing to do with diabetes is like saying that tobacco has nothing to do with emphysema," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert. "The American Diabetes Association has been so corrupted that they have sunk to the mentality of 'tobacco scientists' who denied the link between tobacco and lung cancer."
In the article, when Kahn was asked whether sugary drinks have anything to do with diabetes, he responded "No one has a clue of whether they do or don't." One might hope to assume an association dedicated to the disease would certainly have at least a glimmer of a clue.
Comments
Sugar does NOT cause diabetes. This is probably the most common misconception about diabetes. If you have diabetes, you do need to watch your sugar and carbohydrate intake to properly manage your blood sugar level with the help of your doctor and dietitian. However, if you do not have diabetes, sugar intake will not cause diabetes.
From WebMD/Cleveland Clinic
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/59/66841?z=1667_50910_6504_00_18
3. Can Eating Too Much Sugar Cause Diabetes?
Eating a lot of sugar, in and of itself, does not cause diabetes, but it can lead to tooth decay and obesity.
Please retract this post.
Who said "sugar causes diabetes"? Nobody here, that's for sure. Maybe people should read a little more critically. The only thing I read was "we've certainly heard sugar has a little something to do with a disease called Diabetes."
It does have a little something to do with it. Sugar Lobbies giving money to a diabetes foundation is very seemly, whether sugar causes diabetes or not.
Certainly eating a lot of sugar laden crap can lead to obesity and a lazy lifestyle which, in turn, can lead to the condition of diabetes.
No need to retract this post. It's important to note that sugar money can be influencing the diabetes researchers. That's important. Besides, the medical officer saying that no one has a clue either way certainly isn't satisfying.
jaboobie, you said it better than I ever could have:-)
If the quote "we've certainly heard sugar has a little something to do with a disease called Diabetes" doesn't mean "we heard sugar causes/correlates with diabetes", then what does it mean? Reading critically is different then reading literally.
"Certainly eating a lot of sugar laden crap can lead to obesity and a lazy lifestyle which, in turn, can lead to the condition of diabetes."
Bit of a slippery slope isn't that? I can think of a whole bunch of things that lead to obesity and a lazy lifestyle, like say, video games, excessive blogging, fried foods, TV, reduced open space in urban environments, two-working parent households, etc.
If all the original post did was cite "that sugar money can be influencing the diabetes researchers" and present a reasonable article, then it'd be fine. But instead it's an Adbusters-esque overblown freakout that's just plain misleading.
What's really going to happen is Cadbury gets to slap the ADA logo on its sugar-free and diet sodas and better promote them. Which is a good thing if you believe in anti-obesity. It gets its brand on the fundraiser. Yeehaw.
Sugar has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease caused by the immune system attacking the pancreas) and is just one small factor in a overall unhealthy lifestyle that leads to type 2 diabetes. That fact aside, Cadbury Schweppes also produces many diet soft drinks, which are the only soft drink option for people living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes - and the best option for anyone leading a healthy lifestyle in the effort to avoid developing type 2 diabetes.
As the wife of someone living with type 1 diabetes, I'm grateful to Cadbury Schweppes for putting its money and marketing power behind the ADA's research and advocacy programs.
And to jaboobie, I doubt that any researchers who have dedicated their careers to researching, preventing, and ultimately curing, diabetes would be influenced in any way by the source of funding, which serves only to further their mission.
"And to jaboobie, I doubt that any researchers who have dedicated their careers to researching, preventing, and ultimately curing, diabetes would be influenced in any way by the source of funding, which serves only to further their mission."
I wouldn't quite go that far - like Ruskin says about the "tobacco scientists" there are plenty of cautionary tales about biased science due to funding. Usually it happens along the lines of "study A isn't that important anyway, and if fudging it will get me even more funding for study B, which is what I really want to do, then..."
But as long as there is full disclosure about potential conflicts of interest, I don't really care. There is an enormous amount of perfectly good research produced under potential conflicts of interest. And remember that the ADA doesn't do research itself, it hands out grants. It's not a direct funding of research by CSAB. In fact I believe another article I read stated the money is funding some educational outreach programs and not going to research at all.
The ADA has it's own set of issues, but this isn't one of them.
Any REPUTABLE dietician and/or diabetes educator will tell you that carbs is carbs. Living with and managing diabetes means managing your dietary intake. Not swearing off sugar.
The foot being shot is your own!
I never said sugar causes diabetes. I know it does not. The bottom line is that it's important to know that Schweppes money is going to the ADA. Could that benefit the public? Sure, and it probably will as it does on many many occasions across various types of councils and organizations. But it's important to note the ADA-Schweppes relationship when digesting information from the ADA.
And from now until the end of time, diabetes and sugar will be linked, rightly or not.
Whether sugar causes diabetes is SO not the issue.
Being a diabetic in America, the ADA is 'my advocacy organization' by default. They do many good things. But I am quickly losing respect for their leadership! Remember folks, a number of celebrity sports coaches have been FIRED for less stupid remarks than Kahn's.
Please see my post at www.diabetesmine.com for more on this.
The "creative" has confused everyone...even individuals with diabetes. This reminds me of a Heartburn tablet that was being advertised. The individual HAD to eat the spicest food on the planet! even though he suffered from horrific heartburn pain.
Of course he had to constantly take the Heartburn tablets being advertised. Idea....just simply substitute the sugary liquids with another type of drink. By the way...I've always wanted to be a sugar daddy.
i have discovered a remedy that can simply cure Diabeties even if its sufferer is still taking anti diabetic fiids,and im ready to prove it through your scientifical analysis thanks i will waiting for your reply.
Speak for yourself. My Type 1 sugar diabetes was cause predominately by the consumption of the refined poison called sugar and other man made junk. I have been addicted since childhood, as you probably are.
It is NOT genetic but aquired from mostly my parents. It is not autoimmune, ask WHY would the body attack itself? Autoimmune is only a symptom.
I now 20 years later know. Because I have just cut my insulin requirements in half by NOT following the profit motivated ADA, but simply cutting out the junk carbs. Eating good fats like coconut (got bad rap from soy) & avocado. Did you know the bodys primary choice for fuel is good fats?
Research and find the truth, wake up. Why do we continue to be the sickest nation on earth?
Speak for yourself. My Type 1 sugar diabetes was cause predominately by the consumption of the refined poison called sugar and other man made junk. I have been addicted since childhood, as you probably are.
It is NOT genetic but aquired from mostly my parents. It is not autoimmune, ask WHY would the body attack itself? Autoimmune is only a symptom.
I now 20 years later know. Because I have just cut my insulin requirements in half by NOT following the profit motivated ADA, but simply cutting out the junk carbs. Eating good fats like coconut (got bad rap from soy) & avocado. Did you know the bodys primary choice for fuel is good fats?
Research and find the truth, wake up. Why do we continue to be the sickest nation on earth?
Of COURSE eating refined sugar causes diabetes! Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, visited sugar plantations. He noted that the sugar cane workers never got diabetes. Their employers permitted them to eat only the raw, unrefined sugar.
Unfortunately, the plantation owners ate the refined sugar. And Banting reported that diabetes was common amongst them.
Wake up, people. Banting discovered this decades ago. As a diabetic, I am telling you that diabetes is a terrible disease, and eating refined sugar and artificial sweeteners made me sick. See:
http://www.karlloren.com/Diabetes/raw-food-diet.htm