John_Yudkin_-_Pure_White_and_Deadly_revised_1986_OCR

Pure, White and Deadly
their backs. But occasionally they come to light. I was once asked
to produce a slimming diet for the National Dairy Council. This
project appealed to me because a sensible slimming plan must not
only cut down on the total amount of food, but must do so without
excessively cutting down on the essential nutrients in the food - the
protein, vitamins and mineral elements. So you aim to cut down the
foods that provide little or nothing except calories and keep the
foods that provide lots of nutrients in proportion to their calories.
The only food that contains nothing but calories is sugar; the food
with the greatest number and quantities of nutrients for its calories
is milk.
This was the simple basis of the diet that I designed for the
National Dairy Council. Mter they had published the diet, the
Council was asked by one of the major sugar companies - ever so
politely - to remove or at least 'de-emphasize' the need to cut out
sugar. The Director of the Council told me of this request, clearly
expecting me to refuse to make any change; when I did refuse, he
said with a smile that he fully supported me.
Pure, white - and powerful
Let me end this personal tale by repeating that I
do not accuse those scientists who express disagreement with my
views of doing so for improper motives. Nevertheless, I find it
remarkable that there are still so many in this category, after several
years of accumulating evidence that supports the conclusions that
I and a few other research workers have reached. It is especially
interesting that some of those who began by leaning towards accepting
these views now reject them.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this is the result of the
vigorous, continuing and expanding activities of the sugar interests.
Their product is pure and white; it would be difficult to use these
adjectives for the behaviour of the producers and distributors and
their intermediaries. Nevertheless, it would not be rewarding to
search for an organized dirty tricks department; it seems to be more .
an instinctive protective action of those in the trade to deny any
cover-up of the ills produced by their product, or any wrong-doing
of their fraternity. The result is such a compact nucleus of power
that, like a magnet surrounded by a strong induction coil, it produces
a field of influence that invisibly affects many of those not in
direct contact with the centre.
188
References
Chapter 2
Bothwell, D. and P., Food in Antiqui~, Thames & Hudson (London 1969)
Commonwealth Institute, The Human Story (London, 1985) ,
Dart, R., BeyondAntiqui~: A Series 0/ Radio Lectures on the Origin 0/ Man
South Mrican Broadcasting Co. (Johannesburg, 1965) ,
Leakey, R. E., and R. Le~in, Origins, Macdonald & Jane's (London, 1977)
Le Gros Clark, W. E., HIStory o/the Primates, University of Chicago Press
(Chicago, 1966)
Yudkin, J. (ed.),Dieto/Man: Needs and Wants, Applied Science Publishers
(London, 1978)
Chapter 3
Yudkin, J., This Slimming Business, 4th edn, Penguin (Harmondsworth
~~ ,
Yudkin, J., The Penguin Encyclopaedia of Nutrition, Penguin
(Harmondsworth, 1985)
Chapter 4
Aykroyd, W. R., The Story 0/ Sugar, Quadrangle (Chicago 1967)
Dc:er! N., The History of. Sugar, Chapman & Hall (London: 1949)
Farrne, G., Sugar, Fairne & Co., (Liverpool, 1925)
Geer~es, T., Zucker, Stuttgarter Verlagskontor (Stuttgart, 1963)
Geerligs, H. C. P., The World's Cane Sugar Industry Norman Rodger
(Altrincham, 1912) ,
Mintz, S. W., Sweetness and Power, Viking (Harmondsworth, 1985)
Strong, L. A. G., The Story o/Sugar, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London
1954) ,
Chapter 5
Eisa, 0: A., and J: Yudkin, 'Som~ nutritional properties of unrefined sugar
and~t~ promonon of the SurvIVal of new-born rats', British Journal of
Nutntzon, 54, 593 (1985)