Early-life sugar rationing linked to lower kidney disease risk
Among 55,263 UK Biobank participants, exposure before birth alone was linked to lower adult kidney disease risk than no rationing exposure, with a hazard ratio of 0.78.
Paper by Suzuki Daisuke, Takahashi Yumiko
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Accepted, not yet published: cohort study of 55,263 UK Biobank participants, against people without rationing exposure (Dose-response)
- What changed:
- Adult kidney disease risk was lower with rationing exposure before birth alone versus no exposure (hazard ratio 0.78)
- The catch:
- Other changes around rationing’s end could account for lower kidney disease risk
- In the record:
- One of 3 papers on early-life sugar restriction on record: 3 with results in people.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Among 55,263 UK Biobank participants born in England, Scotland or Wales between October 1951 and March 1956, a natural experiment examined early-life sugar rationing and adult chronic kidney disease. Researchers assigned exposure using birth dates relative to rationing’s end in September 1953.
Exposure before birth alone was associated with a hazard ratio—a measure of relative risk during follow-up—of 0.78 compared with no exposure. Exposure before birth plus 12 months afterward had a hazard ratio of 0.87; its range of likely values included no difference. The association was particularly evident among people with low genetic risk. Exploratory analyses did not suggest that adult diabetes, high blood pressure or abnormal blood fats accounted for the lower risk.
Why it matters
The findings bear on when chronic kidney disease risk takes shape, and whether nutrition around birth matters for kidney health decades later.
Caveats
The birth-date comparison could not rule out other changes around rationing’s end that influenced later kidney disease risk. The findings concern UK Biobank participants born in Britain between October 1951 and March 1956.
- Early-life sugar restriction
- Chronic kidney disease
- Diabetes mellitus
- Blood pressure
- Advanced chronic kidney disease
- Humans
The paper
Suzuki Daisuke, Takahashi Yumiko
Frontiers in Nutrition, Nov 14, 2026, CC BY, Accepted, not yet published
Comments
Be the first to comment.