Limiting Sugar in the First 1,000 Days of Life May Reduce Dementia Risk Decades Later

Restricting sugar intake during the first 1,000 days from conception was associated with a lower risk of dementia, delayed disease onset by about 2.5–2.9 years, and better brain health in later life. Using the end of UK sugar rationing in September 1953 as a natural experiment, researchers analyzed 64,737 UK Biobank participants born around the policy change to examine how early-life exposure to sugar rationing affected adult brain health. Compared with individuals who were not exposed to sugar rationing, those exposed during fetal life and the first year of life had a 21% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 23% lower risk of Alzheimer disease. Similar or slightly greater benefits were observed among those exposed through the first 2 years of life, with a 23% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 28% lower risk of Alzheimer disease. Exposure extending through the first 2 years of life was also associated with delaying the onset of all-cause dementia by 2.55 years, Alzheimer disease by 2.87 years, and vascular dementia by 2.49 years. Brain MRI findings showed greater total gray matter volume and lower white matter hyperintensity volume, while cognitive testing demonstrated better processing speed and reasoning ability. Mediation analyses suggested that approximately one-quarter of the protective association was explained by lower rates of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. These findings suggest that reducing sugar intake during the critical first 1,000 days of life may provide long-term benefits for brain health and could represent a promising strategy for dementia prevention. Source: https://www.neurology.org/