Recent studies suggest that spending the first 1,000 days of life under sugar rationing may still impact people’s health more than 70 years later. Those born into a country recovering from the second world war were restricted to minimal sugar (40g per day for adults), with babies and young children expected to have little to no sugar.
As reported by The Guardian, the lifting of post war sugar rationing in 1953 led to a rise in sugar consumption in Britain, inadvertently creating a natural experiment.
Dr Jiazhen Zheng worked on several recent studies into the impact of sugar rationing, commenting:
“What makes the end of sugar rationing particularly interesting is the nature of the exposure. In September 1953, sugar availability changed quite abruptly at the population level, largely because of policy rather than individual choice. In a sense, history created an experiment that could never deliberately run over a human lifetime.”
Dr Tadeja Gračner prompted this recent wave of sugar rationing studies. Her research, which compared the health of people born shortly before and after sugar rationing ended, found that the longer people spent under rationing, the lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure in mid- to later life.
Dr Zheng went on to explore the impact on organ systems, commenting:
“We have seen associations with cardiovascular disease, liver disease, respiratory health, dementia and, more recently, broader measures of ageing.”
Researchers also suggest that there may be an impact beyond physical health. Professor Nophar Geifman’s study reported that those who spent the full first 1,000 days of life under sugar rationing had a 33% lower risk of being diagnosed with anxiety than those born after the end of rationing.
They were also less likely to have a preference for sweet foods later in life, and her latest research suggests that growing up under rationing weakened the influence of genes that predispose people to higher body weight.
So, how should these findings be viewed in our modern world? Dr Zheng said:
“While these findings support existing recommendations to limit unnecessary free or added sugars, they should not be interpreted as evidence that severe dietary restriction is beneficial.”
Sugar consumption under rationing is comparable to levels recommended by current UK guidelines, though. They state that free sugars should not exceed 30g per day for adults and children 11+, with lower levels for younger children. On average, these guidelines are regularly exceeded in practice. Perhaps, by aligning more closely to these recommendations, benefits can be felt far into later life.
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