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| SAI | |
| Company type | Trade Association |
| Industry | Sugar Industry |
| Predecessor | Sugar Research Foundation |
| Founded | 1943 (1943) |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Peter O'Malley, Chair John McCreedy, Vice-Chair Courtney Gaine, President |
| Services | Research on behalf of sugar producers Create educational resources Public education |
| Website | www |
TheSugar Association is atrade association for thesugar industry of the United States. Its members include nearly 142,000 growers, processors and refiners ofsugar beet andsugarcane plants.[1]
The Sugar Association, founded by members of the U.S. sugar industry, began in 1943 as the Sugar Research Foundation.[2] In 1947, the association assumed its current name.
Initially, the association had two main focuses: public education and scientific research. In 1968, The Sugar Research Foundation became the World Sugar Research Organisation, Ltd. (WSRO).[3] Both the Sugar Association and WSRO are still active today.
Today the organization describes itself as "the scientific voice of the sugar industry" on their website and social media pages.[4]
The association's leaders include: Chair Peter O'Malley, Vice President of Corporate Relations at American Sugar Refining, Inc; Vice Chair John McCreedy, Executive Vice President at The Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC; and President Courtney Gaine, president of the Sugar Association.[5] Its members are sugar companies and other sugar industry firms, including American Sugar Cane League, ASR Group, Imperial Sugar, and The Western Sugar Cooperative.[6]
The sugar industry has funded research that downplayed the health effects of sugar.The Coca-Cola Company provided funding to theGlobal Energy Balance Network promoting exercise over reduced sugar consumption.[7][8] The Sugar Research Foundation, the predecessor to theSugar Association, funded research that downplayed the risks of sugar and highlighted the hazards of fat.[9][10]
The association funds research on the topics of sugar and nutrition, including:
The association gained broader public attention in 2016 for nutrition research that its Research Foundation executive, John Hickson, had commissioned in the mid-1960s. ThreeHarvard University scientists includingD. Mark Hegsted, later aUSDA official, andFrederick J. Stare, the chairman of the university's nutrition department, were paid an undisclosed $6,500 (nearly $50,000 in 2016 equivalent dollars) to produce a review of industry-selected research. The resulting paper in theNew England Journal of Medicine "minimized thelink between sugar and heart health and cast aspersions on the role ofsaturated fat [by saying fat was primarily causing heart problems]". The paper helped to shape nutrition guidance for decades away from even considering the dangers to the heart of sugar and its role inobesity in the human diet. In September, 2016, a study of thishistory, reviewing thousands of pages of documents from archives at Harvard, theUniversity of Illinois and other libraries, was published by C.E. Kearns, L.A. Schmidt andStanton Glantz, (Glantz a professor of medicine atUCSF), inJAMA Internal Medicine.[2][11] The sugar industry was "able to derail the discussion about sugar for decades," Glantz was quoted as saying inThe New York Times.[2]Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health atNew York University, wrote separately in support of the 2016 JAMA article that there was "compelling evidence" that the sugar industry initiated research "expressly to exonerate sugar as a major risk factor forcoronary heart disease."[2][12] The Sugar Association responded to the 2016 JAMA publications saying standards of disclosure andconflict of interest were non-existent or less stringent in the 1960s and that "most concerning is the growing use of headline-baiting articles to trump quality scientific research .... We're disappointed to see a journal of JAMA's stature being drawn into this trend." TheNew England Journal of Medicine began to require financial disclosures in 1984.[2]
Other research efforts by major dietary-sugar corporate interests, particularlysoft drinks andcandy, have often found "no link between sugary drinks and weight gain" according to a 2015 report in theNew York Times.[13] This earlierNew York Times report also noted that "a review of beverage studies, published in the journalPLOS Medicine, found that those funded byCoca-Cola,PepsiCo, theAmerican Beverage Association and the sugar industry were five times more likely to find no link between sugary drinks and weight gain than studies whose authors reported no financial conflicts."[13][14]
According to a 2025Business Insider piece, theTobacco industry playbook originated with staff and strategies from the Sugar Research Foundation.[15]
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