Should a Low-Sugar Diet Start at Conception?
A study published in the journal Science last week examines the impact of sugar exposure in the first 1,000 days after conception on obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure later in life. The period examined in the study—the first 1,000 days after conception—stretches from the day the child is conceived to about 2 years and 3 months of age. The study looked at health data from the UK Biobank, comparing a period after World War II, when sugar was rationed, to a period after September 1953, when sugar stopped being rationed and its consumption doubled. Researchers analyzed data from 60,183 people born between 1951 and 1956.
The results show that early life rationing of sugar reduced obesity risk later in life by 30 percent. The same early life sugar rationing reduced Type 2 diabetes risk by 35 percent and high blood pressure risk by 20 percent in adulthood. In utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction, and that protection increased when sugar rationing was still in effect six months after birth when solid food was introduced.
It’s also interesting to note that those children who had sugar rationing while in the uterus and in early life seemed to have much less lifelong preferences for sweets.
Excerpted from Psychology Today
