Fred Kummerow

Fred August Kummerow (October 4, 1914 – May 31, 2017) was a German-born American biochemist. A longtime professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Kummerow was best known as an opponent of the use of artificial trans fats in processed foods, carrying out a 50-year campaign for a federal ban on the use of the substance in processed foods. He was one of the pioneers in establishing the connection between trans fats and heart disease, and he helped to cement the inclusion of trans fats into the Nurses' Health Study.

Early life and education Kummerow was born in Berlin on October 4, 1914; his father was a laborer.

The family settled in Milwaukee. An interest in science was sparked by a gift of a chemistry set on his twelfth birthday. Kummerow was graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1939, with a degree in chemistry; he received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the same university in 1943.

During his early career, Kummerow participated in developing a cure for pellagra through enrichment of grits with niacin. Pellagra was a chronic disease affecting millions with inadequate diets, mostly in the southern U.S., and having a death toll of 100,000 between 1900 and 1940. He published the first paper suggesting a connection between trans fats and heart disease in 1957. The article, which appeared in Science, was not met with widespread acceptance initially and even received scornful disdain from some associated with the food industry. It took decades before the link between trans fat consumption and heart disease was fully accepted. Kummerow's work, however, helped to cement the inclusion of trans fats into the Nurses' Health Study. and the multitude of products containing them. As further studies confirmed the trans fat-heart disease link, the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed 1994 petition with FDA to require that the trans-fats substance be listed on nutrition facts labels (the petition was ultimately granted 12 years later),

Three months after the suit was filed, The FDA specifically ruled that trans fat was not generally recognized as safe and "could no longer be added to food after June 18, 2018, unless a manufacturer could present convincing scientific evidence that a particular use was safe." The ban is believed to enable the prevention of approximately 90,000 premature deaths annually. Around his one hundredth birthday, Kummerow switched his focus to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's research, rather than heart disease, saying that he "felt that he was through with heart disease." He also said that he wanted to research Parkinson's disease, the cause of his wife's death two years earlier,

In addition to his scientific and science advocacy work, Kummerow was involved in citizen advocacy more broadly; his papers include copies of "letters to five U.S. presidents, members of Congress and other people of distinction on topics such as the national debt, the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons, and energy."

Death Kummerow died on May 31, 2017, at his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 102. He had been married for 70 years to his wife, Amy, who predeceased him. She died in July 2012. Kummerow is survived by a 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).