{"id":33344,"date":"2015-02-13T12:02:38","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T11:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=33344"},"modified":"2015-02-13T12:26:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T11:26:50","slug":"the-bmj-today-sugar-a-bittersweet-topic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/02\/13\/the-bmj-today-sugar-a-bittersweet-topic\/","title":{"rendered":"The BMJ Today: Sugar\u2014a bittersweet topic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kristina_fister\"<\/a>To paraphrase Forrest Gump, writing this blog is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you\u2019re going to get. This Friday the 13th, I get sugar, a bitter sweet topic for someone whose mother has been sucrose-free for a quarter century, whereas I\u2019m more like Forrest, I could eat a million and a half chocolates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I try to control this passion, but occasionally it pops up in most unexpected places. Like in weekly meetings where The BMJ<\/em>\u2019s research team decide which papers to publish. In Christmas 2013 we discussed a paper about the consumption of chocolates on hospital wards<\/a>. As shameful as it may be, I\u2019ll admit I got a little upset over some of the study\u2019s shortcomings. Only the most perfect study could dare speak of her exalted highness\u2014chocolate! Or so seemingly felt the child in me.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the final product of that peer review process turned out to be one of The BMJ<\/em>\u2019s most popular papers ever<\/a>. Such is the power of chocolate. It\u2019s such good stuff it can even improve one’s health<\/a>. Perhaps all too often, though, sugar gets mixed in<\/a>, and that\u2019s when things may go downhill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This week, The BMJ<\/em>\u00a0has published an investigation<\/a> that takes a close look at the links between influential public health scientists and food companies that sell products containing large amounts of sugar. Jonathan Gornall looks<\/a> at how this may be biasing the evidence base on the health effects of sugar, what happens with attempts to reduce the populations sugar intake<\/a>, and what lies behind food companies\u2019 downsizing their products in the name of calorie reduction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cConflict of interest in relation to sugar is an increasingly structural and complex problem, as it is with alcohol and other drugs,\u201d write Anderson and Miller in a commentary<\/a> linked to the four piece feature.<\/p>\n

More needs to be done to tackle this complex web of influence, otherwise the answer to the question that Elizabeth Loder poses in this week\u2019s Editor\u2019s Choice\u2014<\/a>is science for sale?\u2014might be affirmative.<\/p>\n

Kristina Fi\u0161ter<\/strong>\u00a0is an associate editor for\u00a0<\/em>The BMJ.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, writing this blog is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you\u2019re going to get. This Friday the 13th, I get sugar, a bitter sweet topic for someone whose mother has been sucrose-free for a quarter century, whereas I\u2019m more like Forrest, I could eat a million and a […]<\/p>\n

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