Sugar Before Age 2 May Shape Anxiety Risk Decades Later, New Study of 45,000 Adults Suggests
The foods children encounter during their earliest years may leave a longer mark than researchers once realized.
A new analysis of more than 45,000 UK Biobank participants found that people who experienced lower sugar exposure during pregnancy and the first two years of life had a lower risk of anxiety in adulthood, along with a reduced preference for sweet foods later in life. The study also identified differences in certain brain regions among groups with different levels of early sugar exposure.
The findings do not mean that eating sugar as a baby causes anxiety decades later. Instead, researchers used a rare historical circumstance, Britain’s postwar sugar rationing, as a natural experiment to examine whether early food environments were associated with health outcomes much later in life.
Published in Translational Psychiatry in 2026, the study examined people born between 1951 and 1956, comparing those who experienced different lengths of sugar rationing during pregnancy and infancy with similar-aged groups with less exposure to the restriction.
How a Postwar Sugar Shortage Became a Long-Term Health Study
Britain’s sugar rationing, which followed World War II, created a situation researchers rarely get to study: large groups of people who grew up under different early-life food conditions because of a nationwide policy change.
The researchers focused on the first 1,000 days, the period from conception through roughly a child’s second birthday. This stage is marked by rapid growth and development, and it is also a time when children begin learning about tastes, textures, and eating routines.
The strongest anxiety association appeared among participants who experienced lower sugar exposure throughout that full window, from pregnancy through age 2. Those with the longest period of early rationing also reported a lower preference for sweet foods as adults.
Professor Nophar Geifman, a senior author of the study from the University of Surrey, said the research linked early sugar rationing with reduced sweet liking and lower anxiety risk, even though participants later lived in an environment where sugar became more widely available.
Why Early Food Experiences May Influence Sweet Preferences
Researchers cannot say exactly why early sugar exposure was linked with later differences in sweet preference and anxiety risk. But one possible explanation is that taste preferences are partly learned.
Young children are repeatedly exposed to flavors during infancy and toddlerhood. Foods that appear frequently can become familiar, while less-sweet flavors may become easier to accept over time.
A child who regularly encounters very sweet foods may become accustomed to higher levels of sweetness. On the other hand, a diet that includes more naturally less-sweet foods (such as vegetables, plain yogurt, whole grains, and whole fruit) may help make those flavors familiar.
The study’s authors have also pointed to the period when babies begin eating solid foods, usually around 6 months, as a potentially important stage for developing food preferences.
However, these are possible explanations, not proven pathways from sugar exposure to adult anxiety.
What the Study Does And Does Not Tell Parents Today
The research offers an intriguing clue about how early nutrition may relate to lifelong patterns, but it does not mean one cookie, birthday cake slice, or sweet treat determines a child’s future.
The participants in the study grew up in a very specific historical moment. Their food availability, household habits, economic conditions, and social environment were different from those experienced by children today. Researchers also cannot completely separate sugar exposure from other changes that happened during and after rationing.
The brain findings also require caution. Researchers identified differences in gray-matter volume in some regions among groups with different rationing exposure, but the study did not prove that these differences explain anxiety outcomes.
The takeaway is not that sugar permanently determines a child’s brain or mental health. Many factors, including genetics, environment, relationships, health, stress, and life experiences shape childhood development.
Why the Findings Matter for Families in the U.S.
Although the study was based on British adults born more than 70 years ago, it arrives during an ongoing conversation about added sugar in young children’s diets.
U.S. dietary data show that added-sugar exposure often begins early. A nationally representative analysis found that 84.4% of infants and toddlers ages 6 to 23 months consumed added sugars on a given day. Among infants ages 6 to 11 months, the figure was 60.6%; among toddlers ages 12 to 23 months, it reached 98.3%.
Toddlers in that analysis consumed about 5.8 teaspoons of added sugar daily on average. Common sources included fruit drinks, sweet snacks, and baked goods.
That does not mean parents should eliminate all sugar-containing foods. Naturally occurring sugars in foods like whole fruit and plain milk are different from added sugars used in processed foods and drinks.
The concern is routine exposure to added sugars that can crowd out other foods and shape everyday eating habits.
The Biggest Sources of Added Sugar May Not Look Like Dessert
Many parents think of sugar exposure as candy, soda, or cookies. But for young children, it often comes from foods marketed as convenient or child-friendly.
Examples include:
- flavored yogurts
- fruit drinks
- sweetened oatmeal
- snack bars
- packaged toddler snacks
- sweetened cereals
The American Heart Association recommends avoiding added sugars for children younger than age 2 and limiting added sugars to no more than 25 grams, or about 6 teaspoons, daily for children and teens ages 2 to 18.
The goal is not a perfect diet. It is creating an everyday food environment where children regularly encounter a wide range of flavors.
Related: Sugar Detox Without Deprivation: 10 Realistic Ways to Cut Added Sugar and Still Enjoy Food
What Parents Can Realistically Do
Reducing added sugar does not require a fear-based approach. Small routine choices can shift the balance of a child’s diet.
- Offer water and plain milk as everyday drinks instead of sweetened beverages.
- Check the “Added Sugars” line on nutrition labels, especially for yogurts, cereals, snack foods, and toddler products.
- Choose plain yogurt and add fruit rather than relying on sweetened varieties.
- Offer whole fruit more often than juice.
- Treat sweets as occasional foods rather than a default snack or reward.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also advises avoiding foods and drinks with added sugar for children younger than 2. For children ages 2 and older, it recommends keeping added sugar below 25 grams daily.
The Bigger Message From the Research
This study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that early food environments may influence eating patterns long after childhood.
But it’s not a prediction tool for individual children. A child’s future mental health and food preferences are shaped by many influences, and no single ingredient determines the outcome.
What the research does suggest is that the earliest years may be an important opportunity to make less-sweet foods familiar and to build eating patterns that leave room for variety, not restriction.
How can parents encourage children to develop a preference for a wider variety of foods without making eating feel restrictive?
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