Prevention & lipidsDiagnostic or prognostic study
Exposure to sugar rationing in first 1000 days after conception and long term cardiovascular outcomes: natural experiment study
- Natural experiment study
- UK population based cohort
- external validation cohorts
Authors' conclusion
Exposure to sugar rationing during the first 1000 days of life was associated with lower cardiovascular risks in adulthood and slightly more favourable cardiac indices, suggesting long term cardiovascular benefits of early life sugar restriction.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants born October 1951–March 1956 without prevalent CVD, multiple births, adoption or birth outside the UKUK Biobank
- Participants
- 63,433 participants
- Comparison
- Exposure to sugar rationing in early life vs never exposed
- Outcome
- Incident CVD, MI, HF, AF, stroke and CVD mortality (linked health records)
Performance
As reported in the abstract
In utero plus 1-2 years vs Never exposedHR
CVD
0.80(95% CI 0.73–0.90)
MI
0.75(CI 0.63–0.90)
HF
0.74(CI 0.59–0.95)
AF
0.76(CI 0.66–0.92)
stroke
0.69(CI 0.53–0.89)
CVD mortality
0.73(CI 0.54–0.98)
Further findings
| Outcome | increase (mL/m²) (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| LV stroke volume index (CMR subset) | 0.73 (0.05–1.41) | |
| −1012Difference, mL/m² (linear scale) |
| Outcome | increase (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| LVEF (CMR subset) | 0.84% (0.40%–1.28%) | |
| −1012Difference (linear scale) |
Mediation of sugar rationing–CVD association
- Incident diabetes and hypertension jointly mediated
- 31.1%
- Birth weight contributed
- 2.2%
Original publication
Exposure to sugar rationing in first 1000 days after conception and long term cardiovascular outcomes: natural experiment study. BMJ. Published 22 October 2025. doi:10.1136/bmj-2024-083890
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it