Cutting down sugar in the first 1,000 days of life may lower the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood, scientists said.

The study, published in the journal Science, looked at data from more than 60,000 Britons who were conceived between 1951 and 1956 - before and after sugar rationing ended in 1953.

The team found those exposed to sugar rationing had a 35 per cent lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a 20 per cent lower risk of hypertension, compared with people who did not.

Researchers said the period from the moment the baby is conceived up to the age of two is a critical window where poor diet can negatively impact health many years later.

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After the rationing ended in September 1953, the daily sugar consumption among adults sharply increased from 41g to about 80g by 1954, the researchers said.

While there is no guideline limit for children under the age of four, a previous study has shown the average UK toddler consumes more than six teaspoons (26.6g) of free sugars each day.

Tadeja Gracner, from the University of Southern California’s Centre for Economic and Social Research, said: “Our findings provide insights beyond the context of rationing.”

They added: “In conclusion, limiting exposure to sugar in utero and in early life can protect against T2DM (type 2 diabetes) and hypertension (high blood pressure).

“Further research is needed to understand the optimal levels of added sugar consumption during pregnancy, lactation, and after the introduction of solids, as well as their pathways to influencing long-term health.”

Amanda Adler, professor of diabetic medicine and health policy from the University of Oxford’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the research is intriguing but does not take into account other factors.

She said: “The investigators observed that people conceived during rationing indeed had lower rates of disease when compared to people conceived after rationing ended.

“But we still don’t really know if the children less likely to get diabetes later in life were indeed the ones not exposed to sugar in utero or after birth – even in a setting of rationing.

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“It may be that at the same time rationing ended and people consumed more sugar, they also changed other habits (such as) becoming, for example, less physically active.

“So this may have influenced in part their risk for diabetes later in life.”

Jerusa Brignardello, lecturer in dietetics and nutrition at Oxford Brookes University, said the study should be “a call for attention for women in the stages of preconception, pregnancy, and parents of children in early life”.

She said: “This should reinforce the actions of policymakers for the promotion of low sugar intake during these critical life stages in parents and children.”