Low sugar in babies’ and toddlers’ diets could predict their chances of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure later in life.
Researchers from the University of Southern California, the University of California, Berkeley (USA), and McGill University (Canada) used a UK research database to investigate the long-term effects of sugar consumption in the early years of life . Analyzing data from 60,183 people born between 1951 and 1956, the team assessed the link between health and wartime sugar rationing, a restriction that ended in Britain in 1953. This gave the team a ‘before and after’ benchmark for comparison.
Between January 1940 and 1953, British adults were limited to 41 grams of sugar a day, and children under the age of two were not allowed to consume sugar. After the restrictions were lifted, sugar consumption skyrocketed again.
The link between low sugar and chronic disease
“Studying the long-term health effects of added sugar is difficult because it’s hard to find situations where people are randomly exposed to different nutritional environments in the first years of life and follow them for 50-60 years,” says economist Tadeja Gracner, from the University of Southern California.
“The end of rationing has given us a new natural experiment to overcome these problems,” she noted, cited by Science Alert.
According to the data, children who were subjected to sugar rationing in the first 1,000 days of life, starting before birth, had, on average, a 35% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood and a 20% lower risk less likely to develop hypertension. Even in cases where rationing ended while the babies were still in the womb, the risk was considerably lower, helping to reduce the risk by a third. In addition, when health conditions did occur, their onset was delayed for those whose sugar intake had been restricted early in life.
“Interestingly, the sugar levels allowed during the rationing period mirror today’s recommendations. Our study suggests that if parents followed these recommendations, they could have significant health benefits for their children,” says McGill University economist Claire Boone.
What do the experts recommend?
Although the results are remarkable, they are not enough to prove a direct causality between low sugar levels and the risk of chronic diseases. Although the researchers considered several factors, Britons experienced various cultural changes since the 1950s, not just changes in sugar intake.
However, there is clear evidence that exposure to sugar early in life, even before birth, has a major impact. Next, researchers want to study possible links between sugar and other diseases, such as cancer.
“Early stage sugar is the new tobacco and we should treat it as such, forcing food companies to reformulate baby foods with healthier options. We should also tax and regulate the marketing of sugary foods to children,” says economist Paul Gertler of the University of California, Berkeley.
The research was published in magazine Science.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
