A little indulgence in sweets probably won't harm your health. However, excessive added sugar consumption during childhood could lead to health issues later in life. Limiting added sugars within the first 1,000 days post-conception—during pregnancy and a baby's initial two years—lowers the risk of diabetes and hypertension in adulthood, according to researchers who published their findings on October 31 in Science.

"During the first 1,000 days of life, the brain and body are in a critical phase of development," explains Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, a registered dietitian in Boston and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She emphasizes the importance of nutrition during this period, noting that "everything the mother consumes is converted into nutrients for the fetus."

Current nutritional guidelines suggest that adults should consume less than 40 grams of added sugars daily, and children under 2 should avoid added sugars altogether. Yet, by age 2, the average American child ingests about 29 grams of added sugars per day, while the average adult consumes nearly 80 grams daily.

To investigate the impact of early-life excess sugar consumption, economist Tadeja Gracner of the University of Southern California and her team utilized a natural experiment: the end of sugar rationing in the United Kingdom following World War II. During rationing, each individual received about 8 ounces (approximately 227 grams) of sugar per week. After rationing ended in September 1953, daily sugar intake for adults surged to around 80 grams.

Although other foods were rationed during and after the war, sugar consumption saw the most significant increase post-rationing. Consumption of other rationed foods, like cheese, milk, and fresh fruits, remained relatively stable once rationing ceased. Similarly, the end of butter rationing led many families to revert from margarine to butter, thus maintaining overall fat consumption.

Gracner and her team analyzed data from the U.K. Biobank, focusing on over 60,000 participants born between October 1951 and March 1956. They divided the participants into two groups: those born before July 1954, who experienced sugar rationing in utero and early life, and those born from July 1954 onward, who did not experience any rationing.

The study found that individuals who experienced early-life sugar rationing were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes or hypertension in adulthood compared to those who did not experience rationing. The risk of diabetes among those who rationed early in life was about 62% of the risk experienced by those without rationing; the risk of hypertension was about 79%.

Children who experienced early sugar rationing were not entirely immune to these chronic conditions but typically developed them later in life—four years later on average for diabetes and two years later for hypertension compared to the non-rationed group. Participants were also less likely to develop diabetes and hypertension if they experienced sugar rationing in utero, even if they did not experience rationing post-birth.

Avoiding added sugars can be difficult, especially given the prevalence of sugar in both adult and child foods. "I don't want parents to feel guilty for occasionally giving their toddlers sugar," Gracner says. Enhanced nutritional education and stricter regulations on the marketing and pricing of sugary foods could aid parents in selecting less sugary options for their children and themselves.

"We all aim to improve our health and provide our children with the best start in life," Gracner concludes. "The key takeaway is that reducing added sugar early on is a powerful step in that direction."

Source link:   https://www.sciencenews.org