"Britain’s postwar sugar craze confirms harms of sweet diets in early life"

[Calderbloke]

I found this interesting article about the end of rationing boosting diabetes and hypertension which set those of us born or conceived after 1953 to be at risk. Sadly I inherited my mother's sweet tooth, and, well, here I am now...

 

[Pipp]

I did see that report, @Calderbloke. Thanks for bringing it up, here.

I do believe most parents do the best they can for their children with the resources they have available. The young parents of early post war years era had been through rationing and all sorts of upheaval in their youth, and were gullible to the advice from Government. It wasn’t just the damage from the lifting of sweet rations. All sugary foods that were promoted. Such as Sugary breakfast cereals, golden syrup added to porrige, etc. Another example, orange juice and rose hip syrup, provided and recommended at health clincs at a subsidised cost. It came in bottles in a highly concentrated form, and was recommended for all pre-school children. Some were advised to dip dummies in undiluted rosehip syrup to pacify teething babies. I remember my mother taking us to the clinic, and the health visitor telling her children needed the glucose for energy. Mum believed that the health visitor must have been right. The health visitor also recommended we should be given glucose tablets instead of sweets, as these wouldn’t damage our teeth.

The community dentist was located at the same clinic. How ironic!

 

[Outlier]

As one of those children YES YES YES! And sugar was rationed until the mid- '50s. Sweets were a once-a-week treat IF you had been Good. Fruit was in-season only or else tinned - and too expensive for every day. There were meals not snacks. The '50s were a drab and grim period for most of us. Yet there was still diabetes.

It's an illness. Loads of people who eat loads of junk food don't get it. Loads of people who don't eat junk food (as with me) do get it. We inherit the susceptibility - we don't cause it.

 

[AloeSvea]

I'm going to be a bit annoying for a while (or, more annoying?) because I have recently been researching ultra processed food, which is the latest big addition to the gut biome in relevant inputs if you like, on metabolic disease. And I've always been interested in the epigenetic aspect of metabolic disease.

Lustig's contribution - metabolic disease is 15% a genetifc susceptibility - 85% environmental. For us - the food and drink environment is such a big player.

And of course, we don't cause and aren't to blame personally for either of those things.