THURSDAY, Sept. 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Sugar exposure during the first 1,000 days of a child's life may have lasting effects on their mental health, according to a new study.
“Research has shown that … [it] may influence the risk of suffering from several chronic diseases, such as diabetes," said Hana Navratilova of IPB University, Indonesia, who led the study when she was at the University of Surrey in the U.K.
"Because we've seen in our previous work links between the liking of sugary foods and mental health issues, we were specifically interested in understanding if having sugar in early life could contribute to incidences of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety later in life," she added in a news releae.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 46,000 people born in the U.K. during and after World War II sugar rationing.
They found that those exposed to longer periods of rationing in the womb and through age 2 had a lower risk of developing anxiety as adults.
On the other hand, women who experienced no sugar restrictions as babies, or only limited ones, were more likely to develop anxiety with age.
The study also found differences in food preferences later in life.
Participants exposed to the longest period of sugar rationing reported a lower preference for sweet foods as adults.
MRI brain scans of nearly 6,000 participants also revealed differences in gray matter volume between the groups. Researchers identified significant variations in 11 regions, including the cerebellum — a part of the brain that may play a role in mental health.
"Early nutritional environments appear to have lasting relevance for mental health," senior author Nophar Geifman, a professor of health and biomedical informatics at the University of Surrey, said in a news release.
She said future studies should include genetics to better understand how early nutrition shapes mental health over time.
The findings were recently published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.
More information
The Mayo Clinic has more on anxiety.
SOURCE: HealthDay TV, Sept. 24, 2026