A new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) claims the sugar industry in the 1960s launched a campaign in which it paid for nutrition research to downplay evidence linking America’s rising sugar consumption to heart disease. In doing so, the industry was able to deflect negative attention away from sugar on to fat and cholesterol, which by the 1980s were seen as the main contributors to cardiovascular disease. The Sugar Association admitted it should have “exercised greater transparency in all of its research activities,” but said funding and transparency in the 1960s were not like they are today.