4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
In the 1940s, some vulnerable Swedish hospital patients were fed large amounts of sugary sweets as part of an experiment to see what it would do to their teeth.
Researchers considered the study a success as it led to new recommendations for children to eat sweets just once a week.
In the 1990s, the unethical aspects of the experiment emerged when Elin Bommenel became the first researcher to gain access to the original documents from the experiments. Sweden's government has never formally apologised for what happened, although it has greatly improved care for vulnerable children and adults.
Elin tells Frida Anund about the revelations.
A PodLit production.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: A sugar cube. Credit: Getty Images)
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0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the player's mouths. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC |
0:21.5 | is a unique access to the sporting world. |
0:24.7 | What that means is that we can bring you podcasts |
0:27.1 | that create a real connection to dedicated sports fans |
0:30.0 | across the UK. |
0:31.3 | So if you like this podcast, |
0:32.9 | head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. |
0:39.9 | Hi there and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Frida Anund. |
0:46.6 | I'm taking you back to 1997 when a student uncovered long-forgotten documents from one of Sweden's most controversial human experiments. |
0:58.2 | Experiments that involved feeding vulnerable patients massive amounts of sugar. |
1:06.6 | A new semester has just started at Lund University in southern Sweden, |
1:12.3 | and history student Elin Bomenel stands in front of five brown containers. |
1:18.5 | When I first saw the archival boxes in the regional archive, |
1:26.9 | I quite rapidly realized that this is a medical experiment. |
1:32.0 | And that was, I could feel my upper arms tingling. |
1:38.8 | I could feel the excitement of having struck a gold mine. |
1:44.7 | What Eileen was looking at would help expose a dark chapter in Swedish medical history. |
1:52.7 | The documents had been found a decade earlier nearby in an old abandoned hospital called Viperholm. |
2:00.5 | Now Eileen is the first researcher to go through them, |
2:04.2 | looking for inspiration for her doctoral thesis. |
2:07.2 | The first day I spent six hours and I forgot to eat. |
2:10.4 | And as I stood up, I remember my knees were wobbly. |
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