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 The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, 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.Katie Hafner
Fred A. Kummerow, an Early Opponent of Trans Fats, Dies at 102
''New York Times'' (June 1, 2017). He was one of the pioneers in establishing the connection between

trans fat Trans fat, also called trans-unsaturated fatty acids, or trans fatty acids, is a type of unsaturated fat that naturally occurs in small amounts in meat and milk fat. It became widely produced as an unintentional byproduct in the industrial pr ...

s and heart disease, and he helped to cement the inclusion of trans fats into the

Nurses' Health Study The Nurses Health Study is a series of prospective studies that examine epidemiology and the long-term effects of nutrition, hormones, environment, and nurses' work-life on health and disease development. The studies have been among the largest in ...

.Melanie Warner
A Lifelong Fight against Trans Fat
''New York Times'' (December 16, 2013). He also helped discover that it is

oxidized Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a ...

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

, rather than the cholesterol, that causes heart disease.Scientist, 98, Challenges Orthodoxy on Causes of Heart Disease
'' SciCast'' (adapted from the University of Illinois) (July 31, 2013).

Early life and education

Kummerow was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

on October 4, 1914; his father was a laborer. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to the United States, arriving at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

1923. The family settled in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, 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 A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

in 1939, with a degree in chemistry; he received a Ph.D. in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

from the same university in 1943.

Career

Kummerow researched

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids includ ...

s at Kansas State University during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He won a contract from the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Quartermaster Corps Following is a list of Quartermaster Corps, military units, active and defunct, with logistics duties: * Egyptian Army Quartermaster Corps - see Structure of the Egyptian Army * Hellenic Army Quartermaster Corps (''Σώμα Φροντιστών ...

to investigate methods of preventing frozen turkeys and chickens from tasting rancid. Ultimately, "a simple change in the poultry feed solved the problem, making possible the sale of frozen poultry in grocery stores." The feed change was from linseed to corn.Schudel, Matt,
Fred A. Kummerow, scientist who raised early warnings about trans fats, dies at 102
', June 3, 2017, The Washington Post During his early career, Kummerow participated in developing a cure for

pellagra Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...

through enrichment of

grits Grits are a type of porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Hominy grits are a type of grits made from hominy – corn that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp (ovary wall) removed. Grits are of ...

with

niacin Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...

. 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. In 1950, Kummerow joined the staff of the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, where he remained throughout the rest of his life. His research, funded by

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

grants, focused on heart disease, until shortly before his death. His research led to the discovery of the link between trans fats and cardiac disease. As a researcher during the Cold War, Kummerow traveled widely in Soviet bloc countries to speak with scientists, reporting back to the State Department on what he had learned. He turned his attention to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's in 2013. Kummerow authored at least 460

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

articles over the course of his career. He published the first paper suggesting a connection between

s and heart disease in 1957. The article, which appeared in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'', did not meet 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

. The results of that study further confirmed the link. He also helped discover that it is

(

oxysterol An oxysterol is a derivative of cholesterol obtained by oxidation involving enzymes and / or pro-oxidants. Such compounds play important roles in various biological processes such as cholesterol homeostasis, lipid metabolism (sphingolipids, fatty ...

s), rather than the cholesterol, that causes heart disease. Kummerow urged food companies to lower the amount of trans fat in foods laden with the substance, such as

shortening Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products. Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term ''shortening'' seldom refers to b ...

and margarine,Brady Dennis
Fred Kummerow, U. of I. professor who fought against trans fats, dies at 102
''Washington Post'' (June 2, 2017). 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 The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group that advocates for safer and healthier foods. History and funding CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization. Its ...

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), and the American Heart Association began to warn about the health risks of trans fats in 2004. Food companies also began voluntarily to remove trans fats from their products amid growing scientific and consumer pressure. In 2009, at the age of 94, Kummerow filed a petition with the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

(FDA) for a federal ban on artificial trans fats. The FDA did not act on his petition for four years, and in 2013 Kummerow filed a lawsuit against the FDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seeking to compel the FDA to respond to his petition and, "to ban partially hydrogenated oils unless a complete administrative review finds new evidence for their safety." Kummerow 's petition stated that "Artificial trans fat is a poisonous and deleterious substance, and the FDA has acknowledged the danger." Three months after the suit was filed, on June 16, 2015, the FDA moved to eliminate artificial trans fats from the U.S. food supply, giving manufacturers a deadline of three years. 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." Kummerow stated: "Science won out." The ban is believed to enable the prevention of approximately 90,000 premature deaths annually.

Later years

Kummerow formally retired at the age of 78, taking the title of emeritus professor of comparative biosciences. He continued to conduct research, even as a

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centen ...

. Around his one hundredth birthday, Kummerow switched his focus to

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

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, and Alzheimer's disease, the cause of his sister-in-law's death. Kummerow maintained his lab at the University of Illinois until the year before his death.Bernhard, Blythe,
Oldest working scientist takes on Alzheimer's disease
', St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 4, 2015 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 The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s, and energy."

Death

Kummerow died on May 31, 2017, at his home in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

, 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).

References