Early-life sugar exposure may be linked to a higher risk of anxiety later in life, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.
Researchers examined more than 46,000 people born in the United Kingdom between 1951 and 1956. The period was particularly useful because Britain had sugar rationing during and after the Second World War, allowing scientists to compare people who experienced different levels of sugar restriction during early development.
Study Links Early Sugar Exposure to Anxiety
The researchers focused on the first 1,000 days of life, covering pregnancy and roughly the first two years after birth.
Participants who experienced sugar rationing for the longest period reported a lower preference for sweet foods as adults. They also had a lower risk of anxiety compared with people who were not exposed to rationing.
In the study, the group exposed to rationing throughout pregnancy and the first two years had a hazard ratio of 0.67 for anxiety. That corresponds to about a 33% lower hazard compared with the reference group.
The researchers also found that anxiety tended to appear later among people who experienced longer periods of rationing.
Why Could Early Nutrition Matter?
Scientists believe the first 1,000 days are an important period for brain development. Nutrition during this stage may influence how the brain develops and could potentially have effects that persist into adulthood.
The study also examined brain-imaging data. Researchers reported differences in several brain regions between groups with different histories of sugar rationing.
However, the findings do not establish that eating sugar during childhood directly causes anxiety. The research is observational, so other factors could contribute to the differences seen between groups.
What the Researchers Found About Depression
The study also examined depression. Initially, researchers observed an association between longer sugar rationing and a lower risk of depression.
However, that relationship became statistically weaker after adjustments and was no longer significant in some analyses. The association with anxiety remained more consistent.
The researchers also found that later-life sugar intake did not fully explain the relationship between early sugar exposure and anxiety.
What This Means for Early Nutrition
The findings add to evidence that nutrition during early development may have long-term implications for health.
Still, the researchers say more work is needed to understand the biological mechanisms involved. The study does not mean that parents should completely eliminate sugar from a child’s diet.
Instead, it highlights the importance of understanding how early nutritional environments may influence health decades later.
The research was published in Translational Psychiatry and used data from the UK Biobank.
