Reducing Sugar in Childhood May Improve Health and Slow Aging

A child's diet in their first years of life can impact him or her in many ways beyond the years of childhood. According to a recent study, reducing consumption of sugar in the first 1,000 days of life may have an impact on reducing individuals' biological ages in later years as well as reducing their risk of developing specific forms of cancer in their adulthoods.

The study, published in the journal, PNAS, looked at data from 65,000 people born in Britain between 1951 and 1956. In a one-of-a-kind historical study, researchers involved studied a rare event in Britain, the end of sugar rationing, to see how sugar shortages in the early years of life might impact health 40 years later.

First 1,000 Days: A Critical Period

Scientists had the participants grouped into three types: those who were fed sugar during their initial 1000 days of life, in utero through the early years immediately after birth; those fed a diet without sugar during the same 1000 days; and those fed a diet that was not a continuous ration of sugar, but allowed to see sugar more frequently. Researchers divided the subjects into three groups: those exposed to sugar during their first 1,000 days of life (from the womb through the first few years of life); those who went without sugar and those who did not have access to a continuous sugar ration but were fed sugar more often.

The results revealed that during this early time of exposure to high or low amounts of sugar in the diet, men who consumed more sugar for a longer period had significantly reduced rates of liver, prostate, lung and breast cancer during later adulthood.

But the results aren't a clear statement that these cancers are a direct result of sugar. Rather they ask a very profound question: Can nutritional factors lead to a person's health outcome many decades downstream?

Habits You Can Get into for Decades of Your Diet

The results could relate to the formation of eating patterns in childhood, the researchers concluded. The results indicated that those who had been subjected to a longer sugar rationing bout during childhood still had less sugar consumption—and less food consumption, generally speaking—50 years later. They had a wider range of their diet as well.

The findings indicate there may be a tendency to continue craving specific foods and to demonstrate a problematic eating pattern early in life that affects life-long body weight, metabolism, and predispositions to chronic illnesses.

Slower Biological Aging

The effects were not only on the rate of cancer. The researchers also identified that individuals born into the sugar rationing group also tended to have longer telomeres in their white-blood cells.

The ends of chromosomes are capped with structures called telomeres. Genetic material (DNA) is a chemical that is carried by small structures within cells known as chromosomes. Generally, people get shorter as the person grows older which is why the telomeres are studied as one of the biological indicators of aging.

According to the researchers, this difference they observed was roughly the same to approximately 2.2 fewer years of biological aging.

What are the risks of eating excessive amounts of sugar?

Persistent habit of consuming large quantities of candy, especially when combined with other poor nutritional habits, has been linked to overweight, insulin resistance, metabolic problems, and inflammation. They can further lead to the incidence of a few diseases.

According to the new study, attention to nutrition should start very early in the human life cycle, pregnancy through a couple of years after birth, as dietary choices in these years can have a long-term effect on health spanning many years.

It's not that kids should never have sugar again or eliminate foods they're already eating, like fruits, milk and all other foods that are naturally high in sugar. Instead, emphasis should be more on keeping the amount of added sugars and overly sweet foods and drinks as low as possible.

We hope, dear reader, to share your suggestions, your comments, and your thoughts. We take care everything you send to us and will have the most interest to our editorial board. Thanks for your cooperation.
Copyright: Modern Herbalife
Not to be reproduced without the permission of Modern Herbalife.