Frederick J. Stare

Frederick John Stare (1911–2002) was an American nutritionist regarded as one of the country's most influential teachers of nutrition.^[1]

Life and career

Stare was born in Columbus, Wisconsin, and educated in chemistry and medicine at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chicago.^[2] In the aftermath of the second world war, he worked in the Netherlands on devising a dietary regime to cope with the malnutrition facing the Dutch people.^[1]

In 1942, Stare founded the Department of Nutrition at Harvard which he led as a professor of nutrition until his retirement in 1976.^[1][2] He was a firm believer in the essential goodness of the typical American diet, holding that "prudence and moderation" were the key to healthy eating. As an adviser to the US government, Stare rejected the idea that 'the American diet' was harmful, stating, for example, that Coca-Cola was "a healthy between-meals snack".^[1] In an interview Stare claimed that eating even great amounts of sugar would not cause health problems.^[3] He was also an early advocate of the benefits of regularly drinking water throughout the day.

Controversy

There is a considerable amount of controversy surrounding Stare and the neutrality of his publications owing to his funding by the food lobby.^[4] In April 1973, Harvard's medical student publication The Present Illness included a diagram of Stare's industry links. The publication states that the Department of Nutrition received gifts from General Foods, Nestlé, the Sugar Association, Kellogg's, and Nabisco, and that Stare himself had retainers from Nabisco, Kellogg's, and the Cereal Institute.^[5] It has been argued that this was not unusual at that time.^[6]

In the chapter "Fund Raising" in his autobiography, Adventures in Nutrition, he stated that in 1960 he obtained a grant of $1,026,000 from General Foods for the "expansion of the School’s Nutrition Research Laboratories" and that in the 44-year period he raised $29,630,347.^[7] For instance, Kellogg's funded $2 million to set up the Nutrition Foundation at Harvard. The foundation was independent of the university and published a journal Nutrition Reviews that Stare edited for 25 years.^[8]

Stare also co-founded and served as chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Science and Health. In 1980, during his tenure as Chairman, he sought funding from US tobacco giant Philip Morris USA for ACSH's activities.^[9][10]

References

1. "Frederick J. Stare, defender of the American diet, died on April 4th, aged 91". The Economist (Obituary). April 18, 2002.
2. Wolfgang Saxon (April 11, 2002). "Fredrick J. Stare, 91, Dies; Influential Early Nutritionist". The New York Times (Obituary).
3. Michèle Hozer (1 May 2016 (USA)). Sugar Coated (Video). Canada. Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Michèle Hozer (4 November 2015). Sugar Coated, Die große Zuckerlüge, Le sucre : un mensonge au goût amer [The big sugar lie, Sugar: a bitter lie] (Video) (in German and French). Canada: ZDF. Event occurs at 51 min. Retrieved May 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
5. L.R. Berger, Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin The Present Illness Magazine/newsletter. January, 1974. Bates No. 2001210704/0754
6. Walter Willett argued this while presenting Kelly Brownell at the 12th Stare-Hegstead lecture on October 13, 2016, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
7. Stare, F.J. (July 1991). Adventures in Nutrition. Hanover, MA: Christopher Publishing House. ISBN 0815804709.
8. Hess, John L. (August 1978). "Harvard's sugar-pushing nutritionist". The Saturday Review. pp. 10–14. Retrieved May 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
9. Fred Stare, American Council on Science and Health Untitled letter to Helmut Wakeham of PM Letter. December 5, 1980. Bates No. 1000283163/3165
10. Hess, John L. (August 1978). "Harvard's sugar-pushing nutritionist". The Saturday Review. pp. 10–14. Retrieved May 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)