Less sugar in first 1,000 days of life reduces risk of diabetes and hypertension: study

Eating a well diet with minimal sugar is indispensable for long-term health and reducing the risk of chronic disease. A recent study suggests that these efforts should begin at conception. Scientists have found that limiting sugar intake during the first 1,000 days of life, from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, can dramatically reduce the risk of diabetes and hypertension.

The test found that lower sugar intake during a critical period of early life could reduce the risk of diabetes by 35% and the risk of hypertension by 20%.

Scientists came to these fascinating conclusions by assessing the long-term health effects of sugar rationing during World War II. They used the latest data from the UK Biobank, which includes disease history and genetic and lifestyle factors, to examine how early-life sugar restrictions affected the health of adults conceived just before and after the end of wartime sugar rationing. .

“Using an event study design with UK Biobank data comparing adults conceived just before or after the end of rationing, we found that rationing early in life reduces the risk of diabetes and hypertension by approximately 35% and 20%, respectively, and delays the onset of the disease by 4 and 2 years ” – scientists he wrote in a study published in the journal Science.

The researchers noted that chronic health risks were significantly reduced when expectant mothers restricted their sugar intake during pregnancy. However, the benefits increased even more when babies continued to limit their sugar intake after birth, averaging no more than 8 teaspoons (40 grams) per day.

The end of wartime food rationing provided a unique opportunity for a natural experiment in which sugar consumption skyrocketed while other foods remained unchanged. Individuals’ early-life sugar exposure varied depending on whether they were conceived or born before or after September 1953. While those born just before experienced a sugar deficiency, those born just after entered a more sugar-rich environment.

“Studying the long-term health effects of added sugar is challenging. It is challenging to find situations in which people are randomly exposed to different dietary environments early in life and follow them for 50–60 years. Ending rationing has given us a novel natural experiment to overcome these problems,” study correspondent Tadeja Gracner said in a press release.