Fred Kummerow facts for kids

Fred August Kummerow (October 4, 1914 – May 31, 2017) was an American biochemist born in Germany. He was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Kummerow was famous for fighting against the use of artificial trans fats in packaged foods. He worked for 50 years to get a ban on these fats.

He was one of the first scientists to show a link between trans fats and heart disease. His work helped include trans fats in the important Nurses' Health Study. He also helped find out that it's oxidized cholesterol, not just cholesterol itself, that can cause heart disease.

Early Life and School

Fred Kummerow was born in Berlin, Germany, on October 4, 1914. His father was a laborer. When Fred was eight, his family moved to the United States. They arrived at Ellis Island on Memorial Day in 1923.

The family settled in Milwaukee. Fred became interested in science after getting a chemistry set for his twelfth birthday. He studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He earned a degree in chemistry in 1939. Later, he received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the same university in 1943.

His Amazing Career

After finishing school, Dr. Kummerow researched lipids at Kansas State University. This was during and after World War II. The U.S. Army hired him to figure out why frozen turkeys and chickens sometimes tasted bad. He found that changing the poultry feed from linseed to corn solved the problem. This simple change made it possible to sell frozen poultry in grocery stores.

Early in his career, Dr. Kummerow also helped find a way to cure pellagra. This was a serious disease that affected many people with poor diets, especially in the southern U.S. He helped by enriching grits with niacin.

In 1950, Dr. Kummerow joined the University of Illinois. He worked there for the rest of his life. His research focused on heart disease. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. His studies led to the discovery of the link between trans fats and heart problems.

During the Cold War, Dr. Kummerow traveled to Soviet bloc countries. He spoke with scientists there and reported what he learned to the State Department. In 2013, he started researching Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

Trans Fats and Heart Health

Dr. Kummerow wrote at least 460 articles for science journals. In 1957, he published the first paper suggesting a link between trans fats and heart disease. This article appeared in the journal Science. At first, many people did not believe his findings. Some in the food industry even made fun of his ideas.

It took many years for the link between trans fat and heart disease to be fully accepted. However, Dr. Kummerow's work helped make sure trans fats were included in the Nurses' Health Study. The results of that study strongly confirmed the link. He also helped discover that it is oxidized cholesterol (called oxysterols) that causes heart disease, not just cholesterol itself.

Dr. Kummerow urged food companies to reduce trans fats in products like shortening and margarine. As more studies confirmed the dangers, groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest pushed for changes. In 1994, they asked the FDA to require trans fats to be listed on nutrition facts labels. This was finally granted 12 years later. The American Heart Association also began warning about trans fats in 2004. Many food companies started removing trans fats on their own due to growing pressure.

Fighting for a Ban

In 2009, when he was 94 years old, Dr. Kummerow asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban artificial trans fats. The FDA did not act on his request for four years. So, in 2013, Dr. Kummerow sued the FDA. He wanted them to respond to his petition and ban partially hydrogenated oils. He argued that "Artificial trans fat is a poisonous and deleterious substance."

Three months after his lawsuit, the FDA decided to remove artificial trans fats from the U.S. food supply. This happened on June 16, 2015. They gave food makers three years to stop using them. The FDA officially ruled that trans fat was not "generally recognized as safe". Dr. Kummerow said, "Science won out." This ban is expected to prevent about 90,000 early deaths each year.

Later Years and Legacy

Dr. Kummerow officially retired at 78. He became an emeritus professor, meaning he kept his title but was retired. He continued his research even when he was over 100 years old. Around his 100th birthday, he decided to focus on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's research. He said he was "through with heart disease." He wanted to research Parkinson's because his wife had died from it two years earlier. He also wanted to study Alzheimer's because his sister-in-law had died from it. Dr. Kummerow kept his lab at the University of Illinois until the year before he passed away.

Besides his science work, Dr. Kummerow also spoke out on other issues. His papers show letters he wrote to U.S. presidents and members of Congress. He wrote about things like the national debt, the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons, and energy.

Death

Dr. Kummerow died on May 31, 2017, at his home in Urbana, Illinois. He was 102 years old. He had been married for 70 years to his wife, Amy, who died in July 2012. Dr. Kummerow is survived by his son and two daughters.

Selected Publications

• Johnston PV, Johnson OC, Kummerow FA. Occurrence of trans fatty acids in human tissue. Science 126, 698–699 (1957).
• Kummerow FA. Nutrition imbalance and angiotoxins as dietary risk factors in coronary heart disease. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 32, 58–83 (1979).
• Kummerow FA. Interaction between sphingomyelin and oxysterols contributes to atherosclerosis and sudden death. Am. J. Cardiovasc. Dis. 3(1), 17–26 (2013).

See also

• List of centenarians (medical professionals)
• Refined grains
• Enriched flour