Exposure to sugar rationing in the first 1000 days of life protected against chronic disease
Gracner T, Boone C, Gertler P (2024) Science Oct 31 doi: 10.1126/science.adn5421
Web URL: Read this article on PubMed
Abstract:
We examined the impact of sugar exposure within 1000 days since conception on diabetes and hypertension, leveraging quasi-experimental variation from the end of the United Kingdom's sugar rationing in September 1953.Rationing restricted sugar intake to levels within current dietary guidelines, yet consumption nearly doubled immediately post-rationing.
Using an event study design with UK Biobank data comparing adults conceived just before or after rationing ended, we found that early-life rationing reduced diabetes and hypertension risk by about 35% and 20%, respectively, and delayed disease onset by 4 and 2 years.
Protection was evident with in-utero exposure and increased with postnatal sugar restriction, especially after six months when solid foods likely began. In-utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one third of the risk reduction.
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