Work

Early-Life Sugar Restrictions Reduce Genetic Disparities in Adult Adiposity

Year: 2026

Type: report

Abstract: Genetics confer 2-3-fold higher obesity risk through inherited mechanisms affecting appetite and metabolism, with pathways particularly modifiable during the first 1,000 days of life.We leverage the end of UK sugar rationing in September 1953, a sharp discontinuity in early-life sugar exposure by conception date, to examine whether sugar restriction mitigates genetically determined obesity risk using UK Biobank data linking an obesity polygenic index with adiposity phenotypes.Without rationing, high genetic risk individuals had triple the obesity prevalence of low-risk counterparts.Restriction through age two narrowed this disparity by 40%, operating through visceral rather than general adiposity, and was concentrated among high-risk adults with above-median adiposity levels.Early nutritional environments can alter inherited obesity trajectories, pointing to targeted early-life interventions to reduce genetically determined health inequalities.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w35005

Authors: Tadeja Gracner, Claire Boone, Patrick Turley, Paul Gertler

Institutions: University of Southern California, McGill University, National Bureau of Economic Research, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Birth, Development, and Health

Subfield: Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities, Zero hunger

Open Access status: green

Funders: University of Southern California, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging