Adapted from BMJ 25 Oct 2025
Between October 1951 and March 1956, sugar rationing was still going on in some areas of the UK, but not in others.
In the British Biobank Study, sugar rationing, demographic information, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, genetic factors and birthweight were analysed. These were compared against the later development in adulthood of cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, cardiovascular mortality, diabetes and hypertension.
Sugar rationing was associated with lower risks of several cardiovascular risk factors in adulthood. Those who experienced rationing got ( hazard ratio 0.80) less heart disease, 0.75 less myocardial infarction, 0.74 less heart failure, 0.76 less atrial fibrillation, 0.69 less stroke, and 0.73 less cardiovascular mortality. Diabetes and hypertension were jointly responsible for 31.1% of the excess cardiovascular disease association.
My comment: These results strongly support Dr Robert Lustig’s efforts to reduce the sugar consumption of babies and toddlers. Unfortunately I was born after the era of sugar rationing and my mum was sugar mad. Both parents and every relative I ever encountered added two heaped spoonfuls of sugar to a small cup of tea. I stopped sugar in my tea aged 14 but by then it was too late to save my teeth from widespread fillings. It isn’t too late to improve the diet of the babies that are being born now, and I hope this information is widely disseminated. Setting up a lifetime of sugar dependence for babies and children is a very bad idea and can be avoided by taking care of the diet in the pre-kindergarten years.
Diabetes Diet 
My maternal grandparents owned and managed sugar cane farms. There was no way I was escaping sugar as a baby and child.
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