New Delhi: Findings from a landmark study have now shown that a low-sugar diet for pregnant women and infants can remarkably lower the risks of chronic diseases in adulthood—a discovery that could boost the growing global demand for cutting down added sugar in baby foods,
The study, led by Tadeja Gracner of the University of Southern California and published in the journal Science last week, said that children who were subject to sugar restrictions in the first 1,000 days after birth had up to 35 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and nearly 20 percent reduced risk of hypertension as adults.
While low sugar intake by the mother during the gestational period was enough to lower risks, continued sugar restriction after birth increased the benefits, the study showed.
Leveraging an unintended “natural experiment” from World War 2, researchers from Montreal University in Canada and the University of California in the US examined how sugar rationing during the war influenced long-term health outcomes.
The United Kingdom had introduced limits on sugar distribution in 1942 as part of its wartime food rationing programme, which ended in September 1953.
As part of the research project, scientists used contemporary data from the UK Biobank—a biomedical database and research resource of de-identified genetic, health and lifestyle information from over 500,000 UK participants, along with data on disease risk factors—to study the effect of early-life sugar restrictions on health outcomes of adults born in the UK just before and after the end of wartime sugar rationing.
A massive controversy erupted in April after a mega investigation by Switzerland-based sustainability-oriented non-governmental organisation Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)—a Switzerland-based global coalition of public interest groups that work to improve the health of infants, children and their mothers—revealed that international food giant Nestlé adds sugar to powdered baby food in low- and middle-income countries including India, but not in wealthier nations.
The investigation showed that in India—where sales of Cerelac baby cereals surpassed $250 million in 2022—the said food product contained added sugar, nearly three grammes per serving on average. In April, Nestlé said in a statement that the sugar content in Cerelac had come down by 30 percent over the past five years.
A month later, the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN)—the country’s apex nutrition authority—updated its dietary guidelines, advising against sugar for children under two years of age.
“The latest finding on the later impact of sugar consumption in infancy is very important and reaffirms our stand on restricting sugar intake for babies and toddlers,” a senior ICMR-NIN scientist, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint.
He added: “The findings should give out a strong signal to food policy makers to restrict sugar in packaged foods in order to bring down the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).”
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How effective is sugar rationing?
The authors of the paper wrote that sugar intake during rationing was about eight teaspoons or 40 grammes per day on average but when rationing ended, sugar consumption skyrocketed to about 16 teaspoons or 80 grammes per day on average.
Most importantly, the rationing did not involve extreme food deprivation overall and the diets generally appeared to have been, in fact, within the current guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommend no added sugars for children under two and not more than 10 teaspoons or 50 grammes of added sugar daily for adults.
The immediate and large increase in sugar consumption but no other foods after rationing ended following the end of World War 2 created an interesting natural experiment as individuals were exposed to varying levels of sugar intake early in life, depending on whether they were conceived or born before or after September 1953.
Those conceived or born just before the end of rationing experienced sugar-scarce conditions compared to those born just after. This is because the latter did not have to ration sugar intake.
Analysing UK Biobank data, which has been collected since 2006, the researchers identified those born around September 1953.
The study found that not only did sugar restrictions during the first 1,000 days of life substantially lower the risk of developing diabetes and hypertension, it also delayed the onset of these diseases by four and two years, respectively, in those who were later diagnosed with these conditions.
Exposure to sugar restrictions when the child was in the mother’s womb alone was enough to lower risks, but disease protection increased in the postnatal period once solids were introduced.
The magnitude of this effect is meaningful as it can save costs, extend life expectancy and, most importantly, quality of life, the researchers wrote.
The analysis is one of the first works of a larger research effort exploring how early-life sugar restrictions affected a broader set of economic and health outcomes in later adulthood, such as education, wealth, chronic inflammation, cognitive function and dementia.
Why sugar is the new tobacco
The WHO says that excessive intake of free sugars jeopardises the quality of diet by providing only energy with no to little nutritional benefits, leading to unhealthy weight gain and increased risk of overweightness, obesity and other NCDs.
Also, excessive sugar intake can lead to dental issues and its associated health impacts.
In 2015, the WHO recommended that adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10 percent of their total calorie intake. A further reduction to less than five percent or roughly 25 grammes (six teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits, the UN health organisation had said.
In India, around 56.4 percent of the disease burden is linked directly to diet, ICMR-NIN had said in its dietary guidelines released this year.
Another study by the ICMR, conducted in collaboration with Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and released last year, found that one in four Indians is diabetic, prediabetic, or obese—conditions linked mainly to dietary habits and sedentary lifestyles.
Moreover, there is also enough evidence to establish that feeding infants and young children with food products laden with added sugar puts them at a higher risk of early childhood obesity and other NCDs later in life.
Additionally, the American Heart Association advises that adult women must consume no more than six teaspoons (approximately 25 grammes) and men no more than nine teaspoons (approximately 38 grammes) of added sugar daily.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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