Sugar Early in Life Linked to Anxiety Risk Decades Later
Summary
A new study found that people who ate less sugar during pregnancy and the first two years of life had a lower chance of developing anxiety many years later. Researchers also saw differences in brain structure and adult food preferences linked to early sugar exposure, but they do not say sugar directly causes anxiety.Key Facts
- The study looked at people born between 1951 and 1956 in the UK, during and after post-World War II sugar rationing.
- Sugar rationing acted like a natural experiment by reducing sugar intake early in life.
- Those with less sugar exposure before age 2 had the lowest risk of anxiety in adulthood.
- Brain scans showed differences in gray matter volume in many areas of the brain depending on early sugar exposure.
- Early low sugar exposure linked to a lower desire for sweet foods later in life.
- The study found some signs of a link between sugar and depression, but it was less clear.
- Researchers caution that other changes during rationing and social factors may affect the results.
- The study was published in Translational Psychiatry by the University of Surrey team.
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