--- title: Dr. Cristin Kearns description: The former dentist turned investigative researcher is exposing how the sugar industry got us hooked canonical: https://time.com/4606066/dr-cristin-kearns/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-19T11:36:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:21:58.990Z article:section: Health og:title: Dr. Cristin Kearns og:description: The former dentist turned investigative researcher is exposing how the sugar industry got us hooked og:url: https://time.com/4606066/dr-cristin-kearns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5be33c40c68d3fac/6988b3adcf40a81131c45e92/cristin-kearns.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: cristin-kearns og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dr. Cristin Kearns twitter:description: The former dentist turned investigative researcher is exposing how the sugar industry got us hooked twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5be33c40c68d3fac/6988b3adcf40a81131c45e92/cristin-kearns.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dr. Cristin Kearns by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 19, 2016 11:36 AM UTC  Cristin Kearns Cristin KearnsHelena Price by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 19, 2016 11:36 AM UTC **You started investigating the sugar industry after attending a dental conference on diabetes. Why?** I got a government brochure about preventing diabetes, and the nutritional advice was to reduce calories, increase fiber, decrease fat. It didn’t say anything about sugar. One of the speakers had a fast-food nutrition guide, and \[a sweet tea\] got ranked as a “healthy.” I asked him, “How can you characterize sweet tea, which has a ton of sugar in it, as a healthy drink?” His response was that there’s no evidence linking sugar to chronic disease. I just looked at him like, What? **So that led you to start digging into how industry was affecting public-health messaging?** I came across all of these references to the Great Western Sugar Co. The company was based in Denver, and sugar beets were historically a major crop in Colorado, so the company decided to donate many of their records to local libraries. In the first folder that I opened, there was a confidential memo with the Sugar Association’s letterhead on it. I was like, What did I just find? Are you kidding me? **What did the memo reveal?** It was a memo the Sugar Association sent out to its PR guys at various sugar companies about a report they had put together called Sugar in the Diet of Man. The report, which they put together with consultants, was meant to be a review of all the scientific research about sugar, heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay, obesity, etc. Of course, it ultimately concluded that sugar didn’t have a role in any of those things. **Your most recent research showed the sugar industry funded studies blaming fat instead of sugar as the leading cause of heart disease.** I don’t think we realize how much we’ve been marketed to. The whole “low-fat is healthy” movement allowed products high in sugar to be promoted as healthy. I don’t think the average person really grasps that there is industry money behind many food- and health-related studies. **Do you think Americans are catching on?** We’re in a time now where Big Soda is fighting the soda taxes, and the public is waking up to industry tactics. There’s a whole movement of trying to increase people’s awareness of food. **What needs to change?** Even though the science is clear that sugar contributes to heart disease, we’re still having these same debates about the role sugar plays in people’s health. I think my research can help us understand why these debates have gone on for so long. The tobacco industry still funds research, but the more high-quality, respectable journals have refused to publish it. That hasn’t happened yet in the food world. **Has your own diet changed?** I used to drink soda instead of coffee. That was a long time ago. **Do you consider yourself an activist?** That gets turned into sort of a bad word sometimes. I am taking action, let’s put it that way. I really want evidence to support what I’m bringing to light. I don’t want to just point the finger and say the sugar industry is bad. I want to document what they’re doing. I want the work to lead the way, and not have it be about me. **Many of your colleagues describe you as soft-spoken. Are you?** People don’t expect me to come out with the material I have. Because I am not preachy, people seem to trust me as reliable. I’ll take it. That’s who I am. 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