The survival instinct makes us want to eat as much as we can.However, we were not designed to ingest large amounts of calorie-dense foods. Sugaris particularly harmful. In some migraine patients, sugar or carbohydrate-richfoods can trigger an attack by causing reactive hypoglycemia. That is, after aninitial spike in sugar, or so-called sugar high, too much insulin is releasedand the level of blood glucose plummets, which triggers a migraine.
A new study suggests that eating sugar in the first twoyears of a person’s life may also predispose them to dementia later in life.
Hong Kong and Birmingham researchers examined UK Biobankdata to find this connection. UK Biobank contains in-depth genetic, lifestyle,and health data from 500,000 volunteer participants in the United Kingdom whowere recruited between 2006 and 2010. 100,000 of these people had MRI scans. Researchersuse this data to study the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of seriousillnesses.
UK had sugar rationing after WWII that ended in 1953. Theylooked at the effect of sugar rationing in utero only, in utero plus the firstyear of life, in utero plus 1–2 years of life, or no rationing.
Of the 64,737 participants included in this study, 40,963were exposed to sugar rationing during fetal and/or early-childhood life, and23,774 were not.
The results showed that the risk of developing dementia ofany type (most common being Alzheimer’s) was slightly lower for those exposedto a limited amount of sugar in utero only, but significantly lower for thosewho had limited sugar exposure in utero plus the first year of life, and lowerstill for those living with sugar rationing for the first two years of theirlives.
For those who lived with rationing and still developeddementia, the onset of dementia was 2.5 years later than for those who did notexperience rationing. The protective effect of sugar rationing was stronger forwomen.
MRI scans showed that the rationed group had larger volumes ofthe gray brain matter and had fewer white matter hyperintensities. White matterhyperintensities are spots seen in the white matter of the brain. They are consideredof little significance if there are only a few of them and they are small. However,a large number of these can impair brain function. We used to think that theseare more common in people with migraines, but recently this has been disputed.Vitamin B12 deficiency and hypertension have been shown to predispose to moreof these spots.
Rationing also reduced the incidence of diabetes andhypertension. These two conditions were responsible for 25% of the protectiveeffect against dementia.
This association between sugar and dementia persists into oldage. In one study, older people in the top quintile of sugar consumption haddouble the risk of dementia compared to those in the lowest quintile. So, it isnever too late to reduce your sugar intake. Of course, it is easier said thandone. As a recovering sugar addict, I should know.
