British children have lower blood pressure and diabetes because of sugar rationing
The Effects of Early-Life Nutrition on Diabetes and High Blood Pressure in a Young Population: A Multicenter Analysis of the UK Biobank of Genetic and Medical Data
The investigators reported that those exposed to sugar rationing early in life had a 35 percent lower risk of diabetes and a 20 percent lower risk of high blood pressure in middle age. The onset of those chronic diseases was also delayed by four years for diabetes and two years for high blood pressure. They also found that disease protection was greatest for those who had been conceived during sugar rationing and were babies while rationing continued. Those who were exposed to sugar rationing only before birth and then grew up with higher sugar intake had higher disease rates.
The UK study is not the first to link early-life nutrition to disease risk later in life. Research has shown that people who experience famine in the uterus can be more likely to have diabetes later in life.
To find out, the researchers, Tadeja Gracner, an economist at the University of Southern California, and her colleagues, Claire Boone of McGill University and Paul J. Gertler of the University of California, Berkeley, turned to the UK Biobank. Some steps have been taken to protect the privacy of contributors who have genetic and medical information on 500,000 people. Using the data, the investigators analyzed the health of 60,183 people who were born from October 1951 through March 1956, and were age 51 to 60 when they were surveyed.
The economist Tadeja Graner and her colleagues were pregnant with their first child and on bed rest when they came to the conclusions which were published in Science on October 1. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. She says this is the last thing she needs. I likely was eating chocolate at the time.
The Effects of Famines and War on American Pregnant Children, a Researcher, and a Child’s Pediatrician
The results do not mean pregnant people and parents of young children have to eliminate sugars from their own diet, says University of Southern California researcher Graner. In the US, pregnant and lactating people typically eat three times the recommended amount of sugar. She says it’s all about moderation.
The data from famines and war can be difficult to interpret, according to an economist at American University. She says that these shocks affect so many things. “You don’t know what’s because of nutrition, or stress, or changes in income or household dynamics.”
Graner came up with the idea years ago after she stumbled across an article about how children flooded into bakeries in the UK after sugar rationing ended.
The magnitude of the effect is surprisingly large, says Duque. “It’s undeniable,” she says. The change in the area has to do with sugar. Duque says that the results should add fuel to efforts to educate pregnant people about the importance of good nutrition.
Gračner agrees that education is crucial but doesn’t want anxious parents to overreact to her findings. “Pregnant people already have so much to worry about,” she says. “If it’s just a little sugar here and there, everybody’s going to be fine.”
A study found that those exposed to sugar rationing at an early age had a 35% lower risk of diabetes and a 19% lower risk of high blood pressure in middle age. It also found that disease protection was greatest for those who were conceived during sugar rationing and were babies while rationing continued. The study was conducted by the UK Biobank of Genetic and Medical Data.