Nov. 1, 2024 – Having a World War II mindset during pregnancy and early parenthood may lead to lifelong health benefits.
Limiting sugar intake during pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life can cut the risk of the child later having type 2 diabetes by 35%, new research shows. The risk of high blood pressure was reduced by 20%. Reduced sugar intake during pregnancy and infancy also was linked to a lower risk of early obesity, although that link was less certain.
In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers made their findings after looking at health data from what is considered a somewhat natural experiment. The United Kingdom rationed sugar during World War II, and the rationing ended in September 1953.
The researchers identified 38,155 people with health data in the UK Biobank who were conceived during rationing, and 22,028 conceived just after rationing ended. The UK Biobank is a database of in-depth genetic and health information from about half a million people in the United Kingdom.
“Rationing restricted sugar intake to levels within current dietary guidelines, yet consumption nearly doubled immediately post-rationing,” the study authors wrote.
Protection from reduced sugar intake in the womb accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction, the researchers estimated. Rationing was also linked to delayed disease onset among people who did go on to have type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure.
Although other foods were also rationed during World War II, people really didn’t drastically change their food and nutrient consumption other than for sugar, the researchers said. During rationing, people ate about 41 grams of sugar daily, but the amount increased steeply once sugar became more available, and people began eating 80 grams daily. The researchers also noted that children’s oral health got worse post-rationing, and that early exposure was linked to a lifelong sweet tooth: Higher added sugar consumption among people conceived post-rationing persisted as people reached their 60s.
“Studying the long-term effects of added sugar on health is challenging,” study author Tadeja Gracner, PhD, MSc, a senior economist at the University of Southern California Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, said in a news release. The research team also included people from the University of California, Berkeley, and McGill University in Canada.
“It is hard to find situations where people are randomly exposed to different nutritional environments early in life and follow them for 50 to 60 years,” Gracner said. “The end of rationing provided us with a novel natural experiment to overcome these problems.”
