Kids Who Eat Less Sugar (Even in the Womb!) Are Less Likely to Have Diabetes: Study

Mar. 15, 2025

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A new study has found that limiting the amount of sugar that babies get in the first 1,000 days after conception is linked to decreased rates of diabetes and high blood pressure later in life.

Published inScienceon Thursday, Oct. 31, the study found that restricting sugar early in kids' lives was linked to a 20% drop in high blood pressure diagnoses in middle age, as well as a 35% drop in type 2 diabetes.

“We examined the impact of sugar exposure within 1,000 days since conception on diabetes and hypertension,” the researchers wrote. “…We found that early-life [sugar] rationing reduced diabetes and hypertension risk.”

“In-utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction,” the study authors wrote.

To conduct the study, researchers from the University of Southern California, McGill University and University of California, Berkeley, used historical data from the U.K. to compare the health of 38,000 people in middle age born during a period of sugar rationing against the health of 22,000 people who were born in the postwar period after sugar rationing ended in 1953.

According to the study, people born during the period of rationing consumed around 40 grams (about 2.8 tablespoons) per day to around 80 grams (around 5.6 tablespoons).

“Exposure to a relatively low-sugar environment in utero and early childhood significantly reduces the diabetes and hypertension risk decades later, as well as delays their onset,” Tadeja Gračner, a researcher from USC who co-authored the study toldThe Guardian.

Modern dietary guidelines in the U.S. suggest that children under the age of two should have no added sugars at all, according to theCDC. TheAmerican Academy of Pediatricsalso states that parents should aim to feed children over two years old less than 25 grams (about 6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day.

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source: people.com