Study Links Childhood Sugar Exposure to Higher Anxiety Risk in Adulthood
A study suggests that lower sugar exposure during the first 1,000 days of life may be linked to a reduced risk of anxiety in adulthood, while also being associated with differences in brain development and later preference for sweet foods.
Published in Translational Psychiatry, the study analysed data from more than 45,000 UK Biobank participants born between 1951 and 1956, when sugar rationing was in place in the United Kingdom. Researchers compared people exposed to rationing during pregnancy and early childhood with those exposed for shorter periods or born after rationing ended.
The researchers found that women who experienced longer periods of sugar rationing early in life were less likely to develop anxiety in adulthood. An association with depression was also observed, but it became weaker after statistical adjustment, suggesting that later-life dietary factors may have contributed to the finding.
Brain imaging provided additional evidence of differences associated with early sugar exposure. Among 139 brain regions, 80 showed differences in grey-matter volume across the rationing groups. Further analysis identified significant differences in 11 of these regions, including areas of the cerebellum.
Participants exposed to less sugar for the longest period, from pregnancy through the first 24 months of life, also reported a lower preference for sweet foods in adulthood. This suggests that early nutritional environments may influence dietary preferences later in life.
However, the study was observational and used sugar rationing as a natural experiment. It cannot establish that sugar exposure directly causes anxiety or changes brain development. Other childhood, socioeconomic, genetic and lifestyle factors may contribute.
The researchers said the findings highlight the importance of nutrition during early human development and childhood. Further studies are needed to determine whether early sugar exposure directly affects mental health, brain development and food preferences.
REFERENCE: Navratilova, H. F., et al. (2026). Dietary sugar exposure in early life and risk of adult mental health disorders: UK Biobank cohort study. Translational Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1038/s41398-026-04376-w. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-026-04376-w
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