Just ahead of Halloween, a new study reveals that introducing sugar to children at a very young age — even during pregnancy — may increase their chances of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure later in life.
Researchers found that minimizing sugar intake during a child’s first 1,000 days — from pregnancy through age two — significantly reduced the risk of chronic disease. Specifically, it lowered the risk of developing diabetes by 35% and hypertension by 20%, while also delaying the onset of both conditions by several years.
«Avoiding sugar during pregnancy offered protection, but the greatest impact came when sugar restriction continued beyond six months after birth,» noted an international team of scientists in the journal Science on Thursday.
The study drew from historical data on sugar rationing in post-WWII Britain, comparing the long-term health outcomes of people born just before and after the country ended its decade-long sugar rationing in 1953.
The analysis included 60,183 people born between October 1951 and March 1956, who were surveyed as adults in their 50s and 60s.
Those born between October 1951 and June 1954 fell under the rationed group, while individuals born from July 1954 onward were considered to have been exposed to unrestricted sugar availability.
During the study, nearly 4,000 participants developed diabetes and close to 20,000 were diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Although disease risks rose with age across the board, the rate of increase was steeper in individuals with minimal or no exposure to sugar rationing. The differences in health outcomes became more noticeable from the mid-50s onward and were especially pronounced after age 60.
Excessive sugar consumption is known to damage cells and promote chronic inflammation — a condition linked to several major illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, liver disorders, and diabetes.
Sugar also contributes to obesity, which remains a significant health issue in the United States, and is a leading cause of tooth decay.
Current U.S. dietary guidelines advise against giving children under age 2 any foods or drinks that contain added sugars.
However, researchers pointed out that over 70% of products marketed for infants and toddlers contain added sweeteners.
By the age of two, many children already consume the adult-recommended limit of about seven teaspoons of sugar per day — a number that often triples by adolescence.
«Early exposure to sugar may establish a long-term preference for sweet tastes,» the authors warned. «Infancy and early childhood are key developmental periods where taste preferences — and even sugar addiction — can form, potentially leading to higher sugar consumption over a lifetime.»
One limitation of the study is the lack of precise data on how much sugar participants actually consumed in their early years.
«More studies are needed to determine the ideal levels of added sugar during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and the transition to solid foods, as well as the mechanisms through which sugar influences long-term health,» the researchers concluded.
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