A study of more than 66,000 UK Biobank participants found that exposure to Britain’s post-war sugar rationing during gestation and early childhood was associated with a lower risk of anxiety and depression in adulthood.
A major British cohort study has linked lower sugar exposure in the earliest stage of life with a reduced risk of anxiety and depression in adulthood, adding to growing evidence that nutrition before birth and in early childhood may shape long-term mental health. Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou analysed data from more than 66,000 people in the UK Biobank and compared adults born around the end of Britain’s post-war sugar rationing with those who were not exposed to those restrictions.
According to the paper in General Psychiatry, people who had been exposed to sugar rationing during gestation and the first two years after birth had a lower lifetime risk of anxiety and depression. The strongest effects were seen among those who experienced the restrictions throughout the first 1,000 days after conception, with the hazard of anxiety falling by about 24% and the hazard of depression by about 21%. The UK Biobank’s own summary of the study said participants with early-life sugar restriction also reported a lower preference for sweets in adulthood.
The findings build on a historical change in British food policy. Sugar rationing ended in September 1953, creating a natural comparison between people who were exposed to limited sugar intake in the womb and in infancy and those who were not. The researchers said the timing offered a rare opportunity to examine whether early diet could be linked to mental health many decades later. Their analysis also suggested that diagnoses of anxiety and depression tended to appear later in life among those exposed to rationing early on.
The study does not prove that sugar itself caused the differences in mental health, and the authors stressed that the mechanism remains unclear. Still, they pointed to possible explanations involving early brain development, stress regulation and inflammation. Separate research in the field has also linked higher sugar intake in later life with greater odds of depression and anxiety, reinforcing concern that diet may matter for psychological wellbeing. For parents and carers, the broader message is not that one ingredient explains mental health outcomes, but that the nutritional environment during pregnancy and the first years of life may have consequences that last well into adulthood.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
