A Breath of Health: Reducing Sugar in the First 1,000 Days to Prevent Asthma and COPD.
The history of sugar can also be told as the history of air. An international study found that restricting sugar consumption during the first 1,000 days of life – from conception to age two – reduces the risk of asthma or COPD in adulthood and improves long-term lung function. The discovery, published in [link], is based on a unique historical context: food rationing in the UK after World War II, when sugar was scarce for reasons unrelated to health but ended up revealing one of the most revealing natural experiments in modern medicine.
Natural experiment after the war
An international team of researchers from Hong Kong, China, the United States, Germany, Australia, and Japan took advantage of the British rationing period that lasted until 1953. They analyzed data from the UK Biobank, with over 58,000 people born between 1951 and 1956, and linked it to diagnoses of asthma, COPD, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as well as lung function tests.
Less sugar, stronger lungs
The results were clear: those exposed to a [link] showed a delayed onset of these diseases, with an average delay of 3.6 years. Their lung function measurements were even better decades later. The protective effect increased with longer restriction. “Early exposure to a low-sugar diet was associated with stronger respiratory health throughout life,” the authors led by Fen Cao of the University of Aachen (Germany) noted.
From early nutrition to adult lungs
The study provides evidence for the “fetal origins of respiratory diseases” hypothesis, suggesting that the nutritional environment during gestation and infancy conditions lung development and their defense capacity against inflammation. This new work fills a historical gap, demonstrating that dietary decisions during pregnancy and early life can influence respiratory health decades later.
What science recommends
The results support current WHO and other health agency guidelines urging limited added sugar in pregnant women and young children. Although researchers acknowledge limitations, the consistency of results between British and American cohorts reinforces the conclusion that a diet with less sugar at the beginning of life leaves a lasting lung imprint. Co-author Dr. Dodd summarizes it as, “Caring for nutrition during the first thousand days not only protects the heart or metabolism but also teaches the lungs to breathe better throughout life.”
A message transcending generations
Half a century later, data shows that the temporary deprivation of such a common food could have been an unexpected gift to public health. Today, the challenge is to replicate its benefits with consciousness, not with scarcity.
