A new study has established direct link between low-sugar consumption and decreased diabetes and hypertension later in life.
The research titled, Exposure to sugar rationing in the first 1000 days of life protected against chronic disease, which is co-written by Tadeja Gracner, Claire Boone, and Paul J. Gertler, was published on Thursday, October 31, 2024, on Science.
In the study, it has been found that restricting sugar intake in kids for the first 1000 days drops 20% chances of high blood pressure and 35% in type 2 diabetes.
As per the researchers’ statements in the study, “We examined the impact of sugar exposure within 1,000 days since conception on diabetes and hypertension. We found that early-life [sugar] rationing reduced diabetes and hypertension risk."
They continued, "In-utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction.”
The study also found that sugar restriction resulted in two-year delay in hypertension diagnosis and four-year in diabetes.
For the study, the researchers from the University of Southern California, McGill University and University of California, collected two data samples of the UK nationals, and compared them with each other.
One sample included 38,000 middle aged people who were born during the time period when sugar was rationed, while the other sample contained the data of 22,000 people who were born after the sugar rationing ended in 1953.
It was found that those who were born during the rationed period consumed about 2.8 to 5.6 tablespoons of sugar per day and had reduced diabetes and hypertension risk decades later along with delayed onset.
Meanwhile, as per the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), kids under the age of two should not be fed added sugar at all, while the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children who are over the age of two should consume less that 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day.
