Sugar in first 1,000 days linked to poor health later

Cutting sugar in the first 1,000 days of a baby's life - from conception to the age of two - appears to reduce the risk of developing significant health issues in adult life, say researchers.

The team analysed the impact of the end of sugar-rationing in the UK, which led to a rapid doubling in the amount of sugar consumed.

Their study showed limiting the intake of sugar in early life cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 35%, and high blood pressure by 20%.

Experts believe the first 1,000 days of life are a crucial period which can shape a person's future health, as well as being responsible for establishing a life-long sweet tooth.

The researchers took advantage of a "natural experiment" which took place as the UK recovered from World War Two and food-rationing came to an end.

When the rationing of sugar and sweets concluded in September 1953, average sugar consumption in the UK population went from around 41g a day (10 sugar cubes) to 80g (20 sugar cubes) almost immediately.

Women with their ration books at London's Petticoat Lane Market during World War Two.

Scientists analysed the UK BioBank database and found 60,000 people who were born between 1951 and 1956 and had their health regularly monitored.

This allowed them insight into the health of those born during rationing and those born shortly after. Both groups lived through the same societal changes over the subsequent 70 years, but a key difference was their sugar exposure in their first 1,000 days.

The analysis, by the team at the University of Southern California, showed a 30% reduction in the risk of obesity among the sugar-rationed babies.

It found, unsurprisingly, that the risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure increased with age, but it increased faster in those conceived after sugar-rationing ended.

The results, published in the journal Science, showed type 2 diabetes started on average four years later in adult life where there had been sugar-rationing during early childhood, and blood pressure two years later.

There was a 35% reduction in type 2 diabetes for those babies conceived during sugar-rationing, and a 20% reduction in high blood pressure.

The mother's diet during pregnancy was important - with a third of the benefits of a low-sugar diet impacting while the baby was still in the womb. However, the greatest health improvements were seen when sugar-rationing covered both the period in the womb and when the baby was weaned onto solid foods.

Tadeja Gracner, one of the researchers from the University of Southern California, said early exposure to sugar could affect metabolism and how the body responds to food throughout life.

"Maternal diets high in sugar have been linked to a higher risk of obesity and metabolic disorders in children, possibly through factors like fetal programming," she said.

She added it was also possible that eating sugar while very young sets up a lifelong preference for sweet foods.

"Studies show that – while most humans like sweet - significant sugar exposure in early life can strengthen this preference," she said.

She says "a birthday cake, candy or cookies, in moderation, are treats we all need to enjoy from time to time" but cutting down early exposure "is a powerful step" towards giving children "the best start in life".

However, she acknowledged avoiding sugar is "far from easy" as it is "everywhere - even in baby and toddler foods".

Campaign groups have warned that foods marketed at parents who are weaning babies in the UK contains too much sugar.

Parents are also advised to offer less sweet vegetables - such as broccoli or spinach - to help their toddlers accept a variety of tastes.

Veg on a stick - a wartime snack in 1941

The study looked at the impact of sugar consumption doubling across the whole country, rather than tracking each individual person's diet, so cannot be seen as definitive. There may also have been other changes at the time which could lead to those health differences.

But the researchers maintain the end of other rationed food items over the same period did not profoundly alter the national diet - with protein and fat consumption remaining steady. Nor did they observe any impact to butter no longer being rationed in 1954.

Dr Katie Dalrymple, a nutritional sciences lecturer at Kings College London, said the study supported the concept of the "development origins of health and disease", in which there are critical moments in our early life that have a significant impact on our future health.

She said: "[The results] support the notion of public health initiatives which focus on sugar reduction.”

Jerusa Brignardello, a lecturer in dietetics and nutrition at Oxford Brookes University, said: "The results found in this research should be a call for attention for women in the stages of preconception [and] pregnancy, and parents of children in early life.

"The food industry should consider reformulating products targeted at these groups in light of the evidence, prioritising the well-being of future generations."