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