A study of postwar food rationing suggests that restricting exposure to sugar in early life staves off adult development of type 2 diabetes and hypertension, researchers say.

The team examined the health of adults conceived before and after World War II rationing ceased in the UK and found clear benefits for those forced to curtail their sugar intake.

“We found that early-life exposure to sugar rationing led to a reduction in [type 2 diabetes] and hypertension risk by about 35% and 20% and delayed the onset of these diseases by about four and two years, respectively,” the researchers wrote in the journal Science.

Led by a University of Southern California expert in the socioeconomic determinants of health, Dr Tadeja Gracner (PhD), the team drew on UK Biobank data for 60,000 people born between 1951 and 1956.