A natural experiment study investigated whether exposure to sugar rationing during early life was associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. Using data from 63,433 UK Biobank participants born between 1951 and 1956, researchers compared individuals exposed to sugar rationing in utero or early childhood with those never exposed, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, parental, genetic, and regional factors. Longer exposure to sugar rationing was linked to progressively lower risks of CVD, myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and CVD mortality, with hazard ratios ranging from 0.69 to 0.80 compared with unexposed individuals. Mediation analyses suggested that reduced rates of diabetes and high blood pressure explained about one-third of this association. Additionally, early-life sugar restriction was associated with slightly improved cardiac function, including higher left ventricular stroke volume and ejection fraction. The findings are in line with previous studies and suggest that sugar rationing during the first 1,000 days of life may confer long-term CVD benefits. Source: https://www.bmj.com/
