Avoiding sugar during the first months of life is beneficial for health

Avoiding sugar during the first months of life is beneficial for health.

September 7, 2026

By Nicolas Gutierrez C. THE Subscribers

Several recent studies show that babies who grew up during post-war British rationing age better than those born at the end of that rationing.

The first 1,000 days of life are crucial for long-term health.

The first 1,000 days of life are crucial for long-term health.

Photo by MOHAMMAD NAZAL / MIDDLE EAST IMAGES / MIDDLE EAST IMAGES VIA AFP

A baby who eats well will grow into an adult who ages well! We already suspected the importance of the first 1000 days (from conception to the child's second birthday), to the point that Public Health France and the Ministry of Health launched a campaign in 2021. awareness campaign on this decisive period. First, because we had observed that the babies who have suffered from malnutrition (for example, due to famine) before birth or during their first months of life had an increased risk of developing diseases later in life. And then, because we saw that Malnutrition during this period could also have consequences on health. These observations have just been confirmed by a series of studies that focus on added sugar, highlighting how harmful its long-term health consequences are.

A "natural experiment" that allows us to study the effect of sugar on health

Sugar Food Chronic disease Children Cancers Cardiovascular diseases

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