Childhood sugar intake: Slashing kids’ sugar intake could be key to reducing risk of adult heart conditions

Slashing sugar intake early in a child’s life could be the key to reducing the risk of several heart conditions in adulthood. The greatest protection and the longest delay in disease onset, was seen in people whose sugar intake was restricted from conception to around two years of age. The conclusions were made by researchers at Monash University, the University of Sydney, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Guangzhou, China. They found that the first 1000 days following conception was a crucial window when nutrition shaped life-long risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and more. Health organisations recommend against giving babies and toddlers processed foods with high sugar content, or sugary drinks. Using data from the end of sugar rationing in the United Kingdom in 1953, the researchers analysed data from more than 63,000 UK volunteers born between October 1951 and March 1956 with no history of heart disease. Roughly 40,000 were exposed to sugar rationing in post-wartime Britain and about 23,000 were not. The researchers also analysed a group of non-UK born adults who did not experience sugar rationing around the same time, to ensure more reliable comparisons. They then tracked rates of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation), stroke, and cardiovascular death through participants’ health records, adjusting for genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Researchers found the lowest risk of developing heart problems and the longest delay in disease onset was seen in people whose sugar intake was restricted from conception, or in utero, to about two-years-old. The results, published in the British Medical Journal, also showed that longer exposure to sugar rationing was associated with progressively lower cardiovascular risks in adulthood, partially due to reduced risks of high blood pressure and diabetes. Compared with the non-rationed group, those who endured rationing from conception to age two had a range of reduced heart risks. They had a 20 per cent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, a 27 per cent reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 31 per cent reduced risk of stroke. For the heart specifically, there was a 25 per cent reduced risk of heart attack, 26 per cent less risk of heart failure, and 24 per cent less risk of irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation). They also showed delays up to two-and-a-half years later in the onset of cardiovascular issues compared with non-rationed participants. While the study cannot draw firm conclusions about cause and effect due to being an observational study, the authors said their findings “underscore the cardiac benefit of early life policies focused on sugar rationing during the first 1000 days after conception”. “Further studies should investigate individual level dietary exposures and consider the interplay between genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors to develop more personalised prevention strategies,” the study said. In Australia in 2022, more than 1.3 million adults were living with one or more conditions related to heart, stroke or vascular disease. And more than half a million hospital admissions were primarily related to cardiovascular disease. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported an estimated $2.3 billion of healthcare spending was attributed to type 2 diabetes in 2020-21.