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. 2026 Jan 21;17(1):1894.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-68713-9.

Sugar rationing during the first 1000 days of life and lifelong risk of heart failure

Haoxian Tang  1   2 , Xuan Zhang  1   3 , Jingtao Huang  1   4 , Xiaojing Chen  1 , Jianan Hong  2 , Hanyuan Lin  1   5 , Cuihong Tian  1   2 , Luo Nan  1   6 , Mengyue Lin  1   2 , Qinglong Yang  1   5 , Shiwan Wu  1   2 , Pan Chen  1   2 , Jiasheng Wen  1   2 , Liwen Jiang  1   2 , Youti Zhang  7 , Yali Wang  8 , Xuerui Tan  9   10   11   12 , Yequn Chen  13   14   15   16
Affiliations

Sugar rationing during the first 1000 days of life and lifelong risk of heart failure

Haoxian Tang et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Elevated sugar intake has been linked to poor cardiovascular health, but the effects of early-life sugar restriction on the lifelong risk of heart failure remain unclear. Using the end of sugar rationing in the United Kingdom in 1953 as a natural experiment, we classify participants in the UK Biobank by birth timing to define early-life exposure to sugar rationing. Here we show that individuals exposed to early-life sugar rationing exhibit an approximately 14% lower risk of heart failure and develop the condition about 2.6 years later than those unexposed. Longer exposure is associated with stronger effects, and population-level estimates suggest that around 4-5% of heart failure cases may be attributable to the absence of early-life sugar restriction. Genetic susceptibility does not modify these associations but acts additively. These findings underscore the long-term importance of early-life sugar exposure for heart failure, and further studies are warranted.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Study design.
a Percent change in sugar intake relative to the rationing period (1950 Q1–1953 Q2). b enrollment and exclusion flowchart for the UK Biobank. c Timeline of sugar rationing exposure. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Kaplan–Meier estimates of incidence before and after the landmark time.
The red line represents non-rationed participants and the blue line represents rationed participants. Incidence curves were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. All statistical tests were two-sided. No adjustment for multiple comparisons was applied. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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