Vipeholm experiments

The experiments were sponsored both by the sugar industry and the dentist community, in an effort to determine whether carbohydrates affected the formation of cavities.

It was suspected high sugar diets caused tooth decay, but there was no scientific proof.

[8] From 1947 to 1949, a group of patients were used as subjects in a full-scale experiment designed to bring about tooth decay.

[9] The sugar experiment lasted until 1949 when the trials were revised again, now to test a more "normal" carbohydrate-rich diet.

[12] Because the experiments had shown a clear link between sugar intake and dental cavities, the industry was not pleased with the results, and researchers delayed publication.

[14] Elin Bommenel, a historian and doctoral student at Linköping University, performed a thorough study of the Vipeholm experiments in her dissertation, published in 2006.