Revealed: The food you shouldn't give kids for the first 1000 days of life to prevent major diseases, new study finds READ MORE: Doctor reveals the food children should NEVER have for breakfast By Xantha Leatham Deputy Science Editor Published: 14:00 EDT, 31 October 2024 | Updated: 14:00 EDT, 31 October 2024 e-mail View comments Anyone who lived through it will tell you the difficulties of rationing through the war. But restricting sugar in early life can protect against diabetes and hypertension as someone grows older, a study suggests. Researchers have discovered that reduced sugar intake during the first 1,000 days of life – from conception – can protect against diabetes and hypertension in later years.
And it shows how the period up to the age of two is critical for long-term health. In early life, children are exposed to high amounts of sugar through what their mothers eat when pregnant, during breastfeeding, and through infant formulas and baby food. Research also suggests that most infants and toddlers consume sweetened foods and beverages daily.
To study the long-term health impacts of early sugar consumption, researchers from the University of Southern California leveraged a natural experiment in the UK – the end of a decade-long sugar and sweets rationing following World War II in 1953. During rationing, adults typically received 8oz (0.5lbs) of sugar per week and 12oz (0.
75lbs) of sweets every four weeks. The sugar allowance was comparable to today’s UK die.