Limiter la consommation de sucres ajoutés durant les 1 000 premiers jours après la conception, couvrant la grossesse et les deux premières années de vie, peut diminuer le risque de diabète et d’hypertension à l’âge adulte, selon des recherches récentes. Les recommandations nutritionnelles conseillent de limiter les sucres ajoutés à moins de 40 grammes par jour pour les adultes et à zéro gramme pour les enfants de moins de 2 ans. Éviter les sucres en bas âge constitue une étape cruciale pour la santé future des enfants.
Indulging in an occasional sweet treat is unlikely to harm your health. However, excessive added sugar consumption during childhood may heighten the risk of health issues in later years.
Research indicates that limiting added sugars during the crucial 1,000 days after conception—encompassing pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life—can significantly reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes and hypertension in adulthood. These findings were reported on October 31.
According to Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, a registered dietitian from Boston and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “During the first 1,000 days, the brain and body are completing their development.” She emphasizes the importance of nutrition in this period since “everything the mother consumes is transformed into nutrients for the fetus.”
Present dietary guidelines suggest that adults should limit their intake of added sugars to under 40 grams per day, while children under the age of two should avoid added sugars completely. Nonetheless, by the time they reach two years of age, the average American child consumes approximately 29 grams of added sugars daily, whereas the average adult consumes nearly 80 grams.
To analyze the implications of excess added sugars in early life, Tadeja Gracner, an economist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues leveraged a natural experiment: the end of sugar rationing in the United Kingdom after World War II. Under rationing, each individual was allowed about 8 ounces (approximately 227 grams) of sugar weekly. Following the cessation of sugar rationing in September 1953, daily sugar consumption among adults surged to around 80 grams.
While several other foods were also rationed during and after the war, sugar consumption saw the most significant increase once rationing ended. In contrast, the intake of other rationed items, like cheese, milk, and fresh fruits, remained relatively stable. Similarly, with the end of butter rationing, many households reverted from margarine to butter, resulting in minimal overall changes in fat consumption.
Gracner and her team analyzed data from the U.K. Biobank involving over 60,000 participants born between October 1951 and March 1956. They divided the participants into two groups: those born before July 1954, who were impacted by sugar rationing during pregnancy and early life, and those born from July 1954 onward, who were not subject to rationing.
The research found that individuals who experienced early sugar rationing were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes or hypertension later in life compared to those who did not face such rationing. Specifically, the risk of diabetes among those who were rationed early was about 62 percent of that experienced by non-rationed individuals, while the risk of developing hypertension was approximately 79 percent that of their non-rationed counterparts.
While children who underwent sugar rationing in their early years were not completely shielded from these chronic diseases, they displayed a tendency to develop them later in life: an average of four years later for diabetes and two years later for hypertension in comparison to the non-rationed group. Furthermore, participants who faced sugar rationing during pregnancy were also less likely to experience these health complications, even if they were not subject to rationing after birth.
Avoiding added sugars can be quite difficult, acknowledges Gracner, especially given the prevalence of sugary foods in both adult and children’s diets. “I don’t want parents to feel guilty for occasionally allowing their toddlers to have sugar,” she explains. Enhanced nutritional education and stricter regulations on advertising and pricing of sugary products could assist parents in making healthier choices for themselves and their children.
“Ultimately, we all aim to enhance our well-being and provide our children with the best possible start,” Gracner concludes. “The key takeaway is that minimizing added sugar early on is a significant step towards achieving that goal.”
La consommation d’une friandise occasionnelle n’est probablement pas nuisible à votre santé. Cependant, un excès de sucre ajouté dès le jeune âge peut augmenter le risque de problèmes de santé plus tard dans la vie.
Des recherches indiquent que limiter les sucres ajoutés pendant les 1 000 jours cruciaux après la conception – englobant la grossesse et les deux premières années de la vie d’un enfant – peut réduire de manière significative la probabilité de développer du diabète et de l’hypertension à l’âge adulte. Ces conclusions ont été rapportées le 31 octobre.
Selon Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, diététicienne agréée à Boston et porte-parole de l’Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, « Durant les 1 000 premiers jours