A new study reveals the U.S. sugar industry has engaged in campaigns over the past half-century to counter or discredit scientific studies linking sugar to negative health effects such as diabetes and heart disease.

The findings by researchers from the University of California San Francisco published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine are part of an ongoing project by a former dentist, Cristin Kearns, DDS, MBA, and lead author of the study. It's mostly based on 31 pages of correspondence between The Sugar Association based in Washington D.C. and one of the Harvard researchers who authored the papers discovered by Kearns.

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The Sugar Association is a non-profit association representing all cane and beet growers and processors in the U.S. It says it's "dedicated to educating consumers that sugar, in moderation can be part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle."

In 1964, however, the sugar industry through The Sugar Association paid Harvard University researchers to issue a study that exonerated sugar as a contributing factor to heart disease and blamed saturated fat instead.

Prior to this, The Sugar Association approved "Project 226" where it paid Harvard researchers about $50,000 in 2016 dollars for an article reviewing the scientific literature about sugar. The association supplied materials they wanted reviewed and received drafts of the article.

The adverse result of this single industry-paid study was that for decades following the study, scientists and health officials focused on reducing saturated fat -- not sugar -- to prevent heart disease, argues Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition.

"The literature review helped shape not only public opinion on what causes heart problems but also the scientific community's view of how to evaluate dietary risk factors for heart disease," said Kearns.

UCSF researchers analyzed more than 340 documents, totaling 1,582 pages of text, between the sugar industry and two of the scientists involved in making the study.

Today, however, concern has shifted to sugar and carbohydrates and away from fat, said Nestle.

The American Heart Association cited a study published in 2014 in saying too much added sugar can increase risk of heart disease. The authors of that study, however, said the biological reasons for the link aren't completely understood.

TagsU.S. sugar industry, negative health effects, Diabetes, eating avocado lower heart disease risk, University of California San Francisco, AMA Internal Medicine, Cristin Kearns, Sugar, The Sugar Association, Project 226