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Restricting sugar in the first two years of life has lasting benefits for the heart into adulthood, research suggests.
Experts found that people were less likely to suffer conditions such as heart attack, heart failure and stroke if they had little sugar in early childhood and if their mothers had little sugar in pregnancy.
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers examined data from wartime sugar rationing in the UK.
The team looked at data from 63,433 people from the UK Biobank born between October 1951 and March 1956 with no history of heart disease.
The study included 40,063 people exposed to sugar rationing, which lasted from 1940 to 1953, and 23,370 who were not.
Health records were examined for cases of conditions such as heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, stroke, and dying from these conditions.
Compared with people never exposed to rationing, those who had sugar restricted during the time of pregnancy and in the first two years of life had a 20% lower risk of heart disease, 25% lower risk of heart attack, 26% lower risk of heart failure, atrial fibrillation (24%), stroke (31%), and cardiovascular death (27%).
There was a link between longer exposure to sugar rationing and progressively lower heart risks, partly due to less diabetes and lower blood pressure.
People also enjoyed more time without heart problems – up to two-and-a-half years- than those who never experienced rationing.
During rationing, sugar allowances for everyone, including pregnant women and children, were limited to under 40g per day – and no added sugars were given to babies under two.
The team, including from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the School of Medicine in Boston in the US, concluded: “The first 1,000 days after conception are a critical window when nutrition shapes lifelong cardiometabolic risk.
“Many infants and toddlers consume excess added sugars via maternal diet, formula, and early solids…
“Early-life sugar restriction was associated with lower risks of (heart attack), heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality.”