Parenthood is nothing short of a marathon filled with thousands of small decisions. Every day, parents ask themselves what they can do to give their children the best possible life. Science seems to point to a single answer: focus on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. This period is the critical window of development, stretching from conception to the child’s second birthday. During this time, both their body and brain are developing at a dizzying speed.
But how can a simple ingredient such as sugar be such a damaging factor to a child’s health, even decades later in life? Recent studies indicate that added sugar is not harmless, but rather a powerful metabolic programmer that will influence a child’s weight, heart health, and cognitive development well into adulthood. This discovery is based on research conducted by Harvard University and the UK Biobank.
Metabolic Programming
During its first 1,000 days of life, a baby’s body is creating “operating software” for its entire life. This software will dictate how it manages appetite, how it responds to hormonal changes, and, above all, how it manages sugar. When a baby is exposed to high doses of added sugar, we are giving it “bad lines of code,” so to speak.
The most traumatic example of this comes from a study in the United Kingdom. The UK is one of the Western countries that has spent the most decades under food rationing: from World War I until 1954, the British population had very limited access to foods such as sugar. This rationing functioned as a “natural experiment” where low sugar intake was forced upon the population.
The results are astonishing: people who were exposed to less sugar in the womb and during their first year of life had health benefits compared to other people. For starters, they had a 35% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood. They also had a 20% lower risk of hypertension. Those who did develop these diseases did so two to four years later than others who grew up with more sugar available in their diet. The bodies of this population learned to be more efficient with insulin thanks to early sugar restriction.
Effects of sugar on the brain
Sugar intake not only harms the body, it also affects the brain. Babies’ brains are particularly vulnerable to excess sugar. Ultimately, diets high in sugar can cause inflammation and oxidative stress. It can damage the hippocampus, the key brain region for learning and memory. Although research is still ongoing, there are indications that high sugar consumption in childhood is associated with lower scores on cognitive tests in adulthood.
How to avoid sugar in a baby’s diet
The golden rule is clear: introduce zero added sugar into children’s diets before the age of two. Yes, you hear is: no ice-cream, no whipped cream, no adult desserts. Treat sugar like alcohol and coffee; it should not touch a child’s lips until they are able to handle it.
The will to have a healthy lifestyle is there, but food companies that cater to children’s food make this mission quite impossible. The first pitfall is infant and growing-up formulas. The problem with these is not lactose, which is the natural sugar present in breast milk and cow’s milk. The problem is that these commercial formulas use added substitutes as carbohydrates, especially corn syrup, glucose, or sucrose. Ironically, special formulas labeled “gentle” or “lactose-free” often have the highest levels of added sugars (up to 85-90% of total sugar).
Another pitfall is fruit juices. Fruit drinks or nectars are another matter. These are mainly water and added sugar. These drinks, along with flavored milks and toddler drinks, have been identified as the main source of added sugar in the diets of children aged 12 to 33 months in the US.
But how can we avoid all this? To start with, we recommend reading labels carefully. Look for names such as corn syrup, honey, molasses, or concentrated fruit juice in the list of ingredients. It’s always better to offer water and unflavored whole milk. It’s also better to choose whole fruits and vegetables instead of processed juices or purees that come in pouches. To get your baby used to other flavors, it’s best to encourage them to try all kinds of flavors, including the bitter and neutral ones typical of vegetables. This will help prevent them from developing a lifelong dependence on and strong preference for sweet foods. And although it may seem difficult, it’s a gift of long-term health for our children.