The Washington Post - 05.09.2019

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

Politics & the Nation

BY LAURA REILEY

Hold up, diet soda drinkers.
Regular consumption of soft
drinks — both sugar-sweetened
and artificially sweetened — was
associated with a greater risk of
all causes of death, according to
research published this week in
JAMA Internal Medicine.
Participants who drank two or
more glasses of soft drinks per
day had a higher risk of mortality
than those who consumed less
than one glass per month.
The study, one of the largest of
its kind, found that consumption
of two or more glasses of artifi-
cially sweetened soft drinks a day
was positively associated with
deaths from circulatory diseases.
For sugar-sweetened soft drinks,
one or more glasses a day were
associated with deaths from di-
gestive diseases, including dis-
eases of the liver, appendix, pan-
creas and intestines.
The researchers surveyed
451,743 men and women from
Britain, Denmark, France, Ger-

many, Greece, Italy, the Nether-

lands, Norway, Spain and Sweden

on their food and drink consump-

tion between 1992 and 2000. Par-

ticipants were excluded if they

reported incidents of cancer,

heart disease, stroke or diabetes.

Mean age was 50.8, and 71.1 per-

cent of participants were women.

Similar results have been

shown in recent studies, but the

researchers cautioned that ele-

vated soft-drink consumption

may be a marker for an overall

unhealthy lifestyle.

“In our study, high soft drinks

consumers had a higher body

mass index (BMI) and were also

more likely to be current tobacco

smokers,” the study’s chief re-

searcher, Neil Murphy of the In-

ternational Agency for Research

on Cancer, said in an email.

The researchers saw similar

associations in smokers and non-

smokers as well as in lean and

obese participants, which indi-

cates that the association be-

tween soft drinks and mortality is

not strongly influenced by smok-

ing habits and BMI.

“The results of this study are

significant,” said Sarah Rein-

hardt, lead food systems and

health analyst for the Union of

Concerned Scientists. “It re-

inforces a fact that won’t surprise

anyone in the nutrition field: Pro-

cessed foods loaded with artificial

ingredients will never be the mag-

ic bullet to better health, no mat-

ter how low they are in sugar.”

While advocacy groups such as

the Center for Science in the

Public Interest are broadly appre-

ciative of studies exploring the

link between added sugars and

human health, the CSPI cautions

that the results could be a “re-

verse causation” effect, where

di et s oda drinkers as a population

share other qualities that could

indicate a different explanation

for the results.

“This new European study is

somewhat inconsistent with ear-

lier findings,” said Bonnie Lieb-

man, the CSPI’s director of nutri-

tion. “In the new study, the risk of

dying of any cause was more

strongly linked to people who

drank more diet drinks than to

people who drank more sugary

drinks.”

Keri Peterson, medical adviser

to the Calorie Control Council,

which represents low- and no-

calorie sweeteners, said that nu-

merous studies have proved that

the sweeteners used in diet sodas

are some of the safest ingredients

in the food supply.

“The safety of low- and no-

calorie sweeteners has been reaf-

firmed time and time again by

leading regulatory and govern-

mental agencies around the

world,” Peterson said.

Murphy said that he cannot

rule out the possibility that the

artificially sweetened positive as-

sociations were influenced by un-

healthy individuals switching to

diet soft drinks.

“Participants who were already

at greater health risk (those who

were overweight or obese; those

with prediabetes) may have

switched to artificially sweetened

soft drinks to manage their calo-

rie and sugar intake,” he said.

The good news? Researchers

found no link between soft-drink

consumption and overall cancer

death or deaths from Alzheimer’s

disease.

According to the American

Heart Association, sweetened

drinks are the biggest source of

added sugar in our diet. In the

United States, the percentage of

obese children and adolescents

has more than tripled since the

1970s, according to the Centers

for Disease Control and Preven-

tion. About 40 percent of adults

are obese, according to the Amer-

ican Medical Association.

In the United States, four cities

in California (Albany, Berkeley,

Oakland and San Francisco), as

well as Boulder, Colo.; Portland,

Ore.; and Cook County, Ill., have

all moved to impose soda taxes,

but more-widespread efforts have

been met with resistance from

the soda lobby. Even so, recent

studies show that people are

dr inking less sugary drinks, opt-

ing instead for healthier choices.

William Dermody, spokesman

for the American Beverage Asso-

ciation, notes that today more

than half of all beverages pur-

chased contain no sugar, and that

“no one should overconsume sug-

ar, and we stand by the safety and

quality of our products.”

Seth Goldman, chief executive

of Honest Te a, which is owned by

Coca-Cola, said the study should

prod big soda companies to intro-

duce alternative beverages.

“It’s all the more imperative to

successfully commercialize low-

er-sugar and less-sweet beverag-

es,” he said. “There’s a recognition

that the consumer is evolving,

too. If [soda companies] don’t

change, they’re going to miss that

evolving consumer.”

[email protected]

Study links all soda, diet and otherwise, to early death

Large survey finds

higher mortality risk

after two glasses a day

CARLOS ALVAREZ/GETTY IMAGES

The study associates artificially sweetened soda with circulatory

disease deaths, and sugar-sweetened with digestive disease deaths.

BY NICK ANDERSON

On an internal spreadsheet
marked “special interest,” Univer-
sity of Southern California offi-
cials catalogued in exhaustive
detail the fundraising possibili-
ties associated with certain well-
connected applicants for admis-
sion.
One candidate promoted by
USC athletic officials was linked
to a “250,000 signed pledge,”
newly disclosed court records
show, while the file for another
listed a “25,000 check and more
later.” A third was connected to a
larger sum: “$3 mil to Men’s
Golf.”
The spreadsheet and other
documents illuminating the in-
tersection of fundraising, athlet-
ics and admissions at USC were
filed in federal court this week by
defense attorneys for a parent
accused in a college admissions
bribery scandal. The records con-
firm anew an open secret of
admissions: Colleges and univer-
sities track with zealous care the
applications of children of donors
and potential donors.
Prominent schools, including
Harvard University and the Uni-
versity of Virginia, in recent years
have been forced to acknowledge
the practice, following the disclo-
sure of internal records about
“watch lists.” The disclosures
have proved awkward for schools
that want to expand outreach to
students from poor and middle-
class families whose parents did
not go to college and are not in
position to donate.
Universities insist that the
prospect of donations does not

wield undue influence and that

admissions officers have the final

word on who gets in.

The USC records made public

Tuesday show that the admis-

sions office at the private re-

search university in Los Angeles

rejected a fair number of special-

handling applications backed by

USC athletic officials. The emails

in the filing “demonstrate that no

Athletic Department official has

the authority to compel admis-

sions decisions,” USC said in a

statement.

The records were filed in U.S.

District Court in Boston by attor-

neys for Robert Zangrillo, a Mi-

ami businessman who has plead-

ed not guilty to fraud conspiracy

and money-laundering conspira-

cy. He is one of 34 parents

charged in the sprawling “Varsity

Blues” scandal, which centers on

a scheme orchestrated by admit-

ted mastermind William “Rick”

Singer, a California admissions

consultant. He helped children of

clients obtain fraudulent SAT and

ACT scores and use fake athletic

credentials in applications to se-

lective universities.

Prosecutors allege that Zan-

grillo conspired with Singer to

help one of his daughters transfer

to USC as a purported recruit for

the rowing team. According to an

indictment, Zangrillo paid

$250,000 in the alleged scheme,

which included a $50,000 check

to “USC Women’s Athletics” in

September 2018 — after USC

admitted her.

In the court filing Tuesday,

Zangrillo’s attorneys argued their

client had done nothing wrong,

or even all that unusual.

“The notion that Robert Zan-

grillo’s $50,000 check to USC,

made after his daughter’s admis-

sion, was a ‘bribe’ is legally wrong

— there was no quid pro quo

corrupt agreement between Mr.

Zangrillo and USC that brought

this relatively ordinary gift to a

university into the orbit of the

federal criminal law,” the attor-

neys wrote. “It was a donation

indistinguishable from the vast

numbers of other donations by

parents of students made to USC

and apparently to other univer-

sities and colleges nationwide.”

Zangrillo’s attorneys obtained

the USC records through pretrial

discovery and are seeking further

documents. USC is fighting that.

“Mr. Zangrillo’s filing appears to

be part of a legal and public

relations strategy to divert atten-

tion from the criminal fraud for

which he has been indicted by a

federal grand jury,” the university

said. No t rial date has been set for

Zangrillo.

The court records depict a

relationship between admissions

and athletics at USC that is some-

times cozy, sometimes arms-

length. In 2014, a senior USC

athletic official named Donna

Heinel emailed the admission

dean, Timothy E. Brunold, to

promote an applicant whose fam-

ily was on the radar of university

officials. “A ppreciate it... they

came through Athletics due to

father endowing our community

service position for 5 mil,” Heinel

wrote.

Hours later, according to the

records, Brunold replied: “I have

just been directed to admit this

student to the spring semester.

Someone on my team will put

that decision on today and the

ball will get rolling for her.”

Heinel, whom USC fired in

March, has pleaded not guilty in

the Varsity Blues case to conspira-

cy to commit racketeering.

Brunold has not been charged.

Also in 2014, records show,

Heinel emailed Brunold a “VIP

list from Athletics” that included

notations of “long time donors.”

One VIP was so plugged in that

the application received special

handling, the list said, through

“every code known to man.”

Brunold replied: “Thank you

Donna — we’ll be sure to track

these and handle them with care.”

But in 2015, Brunold cautioned

Heinel there were limits on what

he could do. “I don’t have much

maneuvering room this year,” he

wrote, according to the court

records. He told her that the

incoming class would be smaller

than in previous years and that

he was seeking to maintain high

SAT scores.

USC declined to make Brunold

or other USC officials available

for comment Wednesday. (Fred-

erick J. Ryan Jr., publisher and

chief executive of The Washing-

ton Post, is on the USC Board of

Trustees.)

“The Office of Admission has

no role with respect to donations

— it does not track donations; it

does not know how much the

family of an applicant has donat-

ed; and it does not focus on

donations in deciding whether to

admit an applicant — including

those whose applications have

been marked with special inter-

est tags,” t he university said last

month in a court filing.

Nina Marino, an attorney for

Heinel, said Wednesday that the

documents make clear “there was

an aspect of USC admission that

was directly linked to donations.”

She added that Heinel “did not

create this system” a nd “did noth-

ing wrong.”

Advocates for disadvantaged

students said the documents un-

derscore a reality they have long

known: The admissions process

is tilted toward children of privi-

lege. Affluent applicants can hire

tutors, attend excellent high

schools and take summer trips or

internships. Sometimes, their

parents donate to colleges they

want to attend.

“It’s honestly not a surprise,”

said Steve Stein, chief executive

of SCS Noonan Scholars, a non-

profit group based in Los Angeles

and Boston that helps talented

students from low-income fami-

lies connect with top colleges,

including USC. “There are lots of

systemic barriers and challenges

our students face to getting into

any of these schools. It’s unfortu-

nate. But it’s something our stu-

dents have to deal with and

overcome.”

[email protected]

Court records show how USC tracked applicants with connections to donors

Attorneys for parent

accused of bribery aim to

shine light on practice

REED SAXON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Emails in the court records released Wednesday depict a relationship between admissions and

athletics at the University of Southern California that is sometimes cozy, sometimes arms-length

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