A groundbreaking study has revealed a simple practice that parents can adopt to protect their children from getting diagnosed with diabetes in later years.

According to The Hill, a recent study — published in the journal Science — found that children whose parents keep them off sugar during their first two years of life have significantly lower rates of diabetes and high blood pressure throughout their lives.

This effect remains strong even if children begin consuming more sugar after they turn two years old, according to the study’s findings.

The scientists involved in the study found that processed sugar begins to be harmful to children while they are still fetuses in utero.

Approximately 85% of children in the United States consume added sugars daily, despite public health recommendations to avoid them, The Hill reported citing the 2020 findings in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

For infants, sources include sweetened yogurts, baby foods and pastries, while for toddlers, added sugars come from candy, pastries and fruit drinks.

Scientists involved in the recent study took advantage of the strict sugar rationing in the United Kingdom after World War II to uncover the lifelong impacts of early-life sugar intake.

During that time, sugar rationing in the UK led to concumption levels that were similar to what modern-day public health authorities prescribe. However, once these restrictions ended in 1953, sugar consumption surged, nearly doubling immediately.

This policy change offered scientists an opportunity to examine the long-term effects on children. 

It allowed scientists to compare slightly older children with restricted sugar access to their younger ones, even as both groups began consuming significantly more sugar after the rationing ended.

They discovered that less sugar consumption by children during the first 1,000 days of their lives — starting from their conception until their second birthday — lowered their risk of developing diabetes by 35% and hypertension by 20%.

The low-sugar diet also delayed the onset of certain diseases by four to two years, particularly benefiting children who reduce after sugar intake six months, which is around the time that infants begin eating solid food.

Researchers also found that pregnant women’s reduction in sugar comsumption contributed to approximately one-third of the overall decrease in risk for these diseases.