Pure, White and Deadly

Pure, White and Deadly
US First edition (original title)
AuthorJohn Yudkin
Original titleSweet and Dangerous
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHealth effects of sugar
Published
  • (1972) as Sweet and Dangerous. Peter H. Wyden, New York.
  • (1972) as Pure, White and Deadly: The Problem of Sugar. Davis-Poynter, London.
  • (1986) as Pure, White and Deadly. Viking Press, London.
  • (2012) as Pure, White and Deadly: How Sugar Is Killing Us and What We Can Do to Stop It. Penguin Books, London.
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint and digital
Pages
  • 164 (1972)
  • 200 (1986)
  • 224 (2012)
ISBN978-0-241-96528-3 (Penguin Books, 2012)
OCLC823655490

Pure, White and Deadly is a 1972 book by John Yudkin, a British nutritionist and former Chair of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London.[1] Published in New York, it was the first publication by a scientist to anticipate the adverse health effects, especially in relation to obesity and heart disease, of the public's increased sugar consumption. At the time of publication, Yudkin sat on the advisory panel of the British Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA).[2] He stated his intention in writing the book in the last paragraph of the first chapter: "I hope that when you have read this book I shall have convinced you that sugar is really dangerous."[3]

The book and author suffered a barrage of criticism at the time, particularly from the sugar industry, processed-food manufacturers, and Ancel Keys, an American physiologist who argued in favour of restricting dietary fat, not sugar, and who sought to ridicule Yudkin's work.[2] In later years, Yudkin's observations came to be accepted.[note 1][2][4][5][6] A 2002 cover story about sugar by Gary Taubes in The New York Times Magazine, "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?", attracted attention,[7] and the following year a World Health Organization report recommended that added sugars provide no more than 6–10% of total dietary intake.[8] In 2009 a lecture on the health effects of sugar by Robert Lustig, an American pediatric endocrinologist, went viral.[9] The subsequent interest led to the rediscovery of Yudkin's book and the rehabilitation of his reputation.[2][10]

Two further editions of the book were published, the second after Yudkin's death in 1995. An expanded version appeared in 1986, revised by Yudkin himself, to include much additional research evidence. In 2012 the book was re-published by Penguin Books with a new introduction by Robert Lustig to reflect the changed nutritional context that the book had helped to create.[2]

  1. ^ a b Bray, George A. (July 2010). "Fructose: Pure, White, and Deadly? Fructose, by Any Other name, Is a Health Hazard". Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 4 (4): 1003–1007. doi:10.1177/193229681000400432. PMC 2909535. PMID 20663467.
  2. ^ a b c d e Winkler, J. T. (19 January 2013). "Pure, White and Deadly by John Yudkin". BMJ. 346 (7891): 227–232. doi:10.1136/bmj.e8612. JSTOR 3493913. S2CID 70715616.
  3. ^ Yudkin, John (2012). Pure, White and Deadly. London: Penguin Books. p. 4.
  4. ^ Llewellyn Smith, Julia (17 February 2014). "John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015.
  5. ^ Leslie, Ian (7 April 2016). "The sugar conspiracy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016.
  6. ^ Castro, Vitor (December 2017). "Pure, White and Deadly ... Expensive: A Bitter Sweetness in Health Care Expenditure". Health Economics. 26 (12): 1644–1666. doi:10.1002/hec.3462. PMID 27976430. S2CID 25176211.
  7. ^ Taubes, Gary (7 July 2002). "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases". WHO technical report series 916. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2003. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

    "Populations with high sugar consumption are at increased risk of chronic disease, South African researchers report". Geneva: World Health Organization. 28 August 2003.

  9. ^ Lustig, Robert (26 May 2009). "Sugar: The Bitter Truth", University of California Television (uploaded to YouTube on 20 July 2009).
  10. ^ Jackson, Trevor (16 January 2013). "How science is going sour on sugar". BMJ. 346 (7891): f307. doi:10.1136/bmj.f307.


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