INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO) — New research suggests that a person’s exposure to sugar before birth and during the earliest years of life may be linked to dementia risk decades later, though researchers caution the findings do not prove sugar directly causes or prevents the disease.
A study published in the medical journal Neurology examined health records from more than 64,000 people in the United Kingdom who were born before and after the end of World War II-era sugar rationing in 1953.
Researchers found that people exposed to lower sugar availability before birth and during their first years of life had a lower risk of developing dementia compared with those born after sugar became more widely available.
The study found people who experienced reduced sugar exposure before birth and through their first year of life had a 21% lower risk of dementia. Those whose lower sugar intake continued through age two had a 23% lower risk.
Researchers also found that individuals with lower early-life sugar exposure developed dementia an average of 2.6 years later than those with higher sugar exposure.
“Our findings suggest that limiting sugar during the earliest stages of life may have lasting benefits for brain health,” study author Jiazhen Zheng of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said in a press release.
Researchers used the historical sugar rationing period as a way to compare groups with different levels of sugar availability early in life. However, they noted the study could not determine exactly how much sugar each person consumed or fully account for other differences between the groups.
Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, said the research raises an important question but cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from the findings.
“I’m impressed with the researchers’ creativity, pulling together information across decades to look at this question, but the findings are not convincing,” Mozaffarian told Fox News Digital.
Mozaffarian said people born during and after wartime likely experienced differences beyond sugar consumption, including changes in overall nutrition and calorie intake, which could have influenced long-term health outcomes.
Still, he said existing research supports the importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy and early childhood.
Health experts recommend that pregnant women focus on nutrient-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fermented dairy products and fish, while limiting highly processed foods high in sugar, starch and salt.
Researchers emphasized that the study shows an association between early-life sugar exposure and dementia risk, not a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
The study also has limitations because researchers relied on a historical policy change as a measure of sugar exposure rather than individual dietary records.
Scientists say additional research is needed to better understand how early nutrition may affect brain health and dementia risk later in life.
