Toddlers who eat sweet treats may be at greater risk for five major types cancer later in life, a study suggests.
Researchers found that children born during wartime, when sugar rationing was in effect, were 69 percent less likely to develop liver cancer and 40 percent less likely to develop colon cancer, compared to those born after restrictions were lifted.
They also turned to healthier diets, which could protect against conditions such as obesity, and a younger biological age – the term for damage to the body over time.
‘Children may not remember what they ate before the age of two’ Dr. Weilong Zhang, professor of economics at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study, wrote in The conversation.
“But their later health, their bodies and even their taste preferences may still bear the imprint of those early life experiences.”
With scientists from China Agricultural University, Dr Zhang analyzed data from 64,000 Britons born between 1951 and 1956 – either side of rationing that ended in September 1953.
During the restrictions, Britons consumed around 41 grams of sugar per day – about as much as there is in a 330ml can of Coca Cola.
However, after rationing, intake doubled to 80 grams.
A study shows that toddlers who eat more sugar are at greater risk of five major types of cancer later in life
This acted as what researchers called a rare “natural experiment,” because children born just months apart may have had vastly different sugar intakes in their early years.
Dr. Zhang told the Daily Mail that while they couldn’t measure exactly how much sugar children consumed after rationing ended, it would have been “significantly more” than before.
The researchers focused on the 1,000 days from conception to a child’s second birthday because this is when the organs and immune system develop and when food preferences begin to form.
Their findings – published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – showed that those who were under rationing for longer had a lower risk of breast, prostate, liver, rectal and lung cancer decades later.
The risk of liver cancer – including intrahepatic bile duct cancer – was found to be 69 percent lower for the rationed group.
Approximately 7,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer each year, causing more than 90 percent of patients to die within ten years.
The study found that those who consumed less sugar did so a 52 percent lower risk of prostate cancer, the most common form of the disease among men, with 64,000 diagnoses per year – about one in eight.
Prostate cancer kills more than 12,000 people every year.
There was a 41 percent lower risk of lung cancer for the group that ate less sugar, the researchers also found.
Lung cancer is the deadliest in Britain, causing around 33,000 deaths every year.
Meanwhile, rectal cancer – a form of colon cancer that starts in the rectum – had a 40 percent lower risk.
The findings come against a backdrop of rising rates of bowel cancer in Britain, particularly under 50s.
Dr. Zhang said the findings do not mean higher sugar intake is behind the increase.
But he says the findings “suggest that dietary exposure very early in life may be a factor that may influence the risk of colon cancer, and especially rectal cancer, many decades later.”
The new study found that breast cancer rates were 36 percent lower. This was the smallest of the five, but the result was “still substantial,” according to Dr. Zhang.
There There are around 60,000 new diagnoses of breast cancer and 11,200 deaths in the UK every year.
The researchers said the differences in cancer risk were not discovered until decades after sugar rationing ended, suggesting that the health consequences of sugar intake early in life may take years to become apparent.
Dr. Zhang said their research also found that those exposed to more sugar early in life were at greater risk of biological aging.
Biological age is important because it shows the so-called ‘wear and tear’ of the body.
For example, two people may look visibly the same at age 60, but their cells and immune systems may show different signs of aging.
The study found that those who consumed less sugar had about 2.2 years less biological aging.
This means that their bodies were younger than those of people who ate more sugar, and suggests that they could be better protected against diseases that come with age.
Furthermore, the researchers found that early sugar intake influenced people’s food choices even decades later.
“We found that people who experienced sugar rationing early in life still consumed less sugar in adulthood, around age 50,” says Dr. Zhang.
‘They also ate less overall, and their diets were healthier and more diverse. This suggests that the level of sweetness that people are exposed to very early in life can shape their taste preferences for a long time.”
A healthier diet has been linked to fewer complications such as obesity, which can increase the risk of dangerous conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
The findings follow separate research that linked low sugar intake in early life to lower risks of conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and dementia.
