EARLY-LIFE sugar restriction during the first 1,000 days from conception was associated with a lower risk of dementia decades later, highlighting how population level nutrition policies could shape long term brain health and future preventive strategies. Using the end of sugar rationing in the UK in 1953 as a natural experiment, researchers examined whether limiting sugar intake during foetal development and early childhood influenced dementia risk and markers of brain health later in life. Natural Experiment Revealed Lasting Brain BenefitsThe study analysed data from 64,737 participants in the UK Biobank born around the end of national sugar rationing. Participants were categorised according to whether they were exposed to sugar rationing during pregnancy alone, pregnancy and the first year of life, pregnancy and the first 2 years of life, or not exposed. Association of sugar restriction in utero through age 2 years on dementia risk later in life.