Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Research shows that limiting sugar in the first two years of life has lasting benefits for the heart into adulthood.
Experts found that if people had low sugar in childhood and if their mothers had low sugar during pregnancy, they were less likely to suffer from conditions such as heart attack, heart failure and stroke.
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers examined data from wartime sugar rationing in Britain.
The team looked at data from the UK Biobank on 63,433 people born between October 1951 and March 1956 who had no history of heart disease.
The study included 40,063 people exposed to sugar rationing from 1940 to 1953, and 23,370 people who were not exposed to sugar rationing.
Health records were examined for cases of conditions such as heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, stroke, and deaths from these conditions.
Compared with those who were never exposed to sugar, those who limited sugar during pregnancy and the first two years of life had a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease, a 25 percent lower risk of heart attack, a 26 percent lower risk of heart failure, atrial fibrillation (24 percent), stroke (31 percent), and cardiovascular death (27 percent).
There was an association between long-term sugar intake and gradually reduced cardiovascular risk, which was partly due to less diabetes and lower blood pressure.
People enjoyed two and a half years longer without heart problems than those who never experienced rationing.
During rationing, sugar intake for everyone, including pregnant women and children, was limited to less than 40 grams per day – and children under the age of two were not given any added sugar.
The team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Boston School of Medicine in the US concluded: “The first 1,000 days after conception are a critical time when nutrition shapes lifelong cardiometabolic risk.
“Many infants and children consume added sugars through maternal diet, formula, and early solids…
“Sugar restriction in early life was associated with a reduced risk of (heart attack), heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality.”