The Sweet Life: The Long-Term Effects of a Sugar-Rich Early Childhood

Paul Gertler and Tadeja Gracner

No 30799, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We show that sugar-rich diet early in life has large adverse effects on the health and economic well-being of adults more than fifty years later. Excessive sugar intake early in life led to higher prevalence of chronic inflammation, diabetes, elevated cholesterol and arthritis. It also decreased post-secondary schooling, having a skilled occupation, and accumulating above median wealth. We identified elevated sugar consumption across lifespan as a likely pathway of impact. Exploiting the end of the post-WWII rationing of sugar and sweets in 1953 in the United Kingdom, we used a regression discontinuity design to identify these effects.

JEL-codes: I1 I12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-lab
Note: AG CH EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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