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Prenatal Sugar Consumption and Late-Life Human Capital and Health: Analyses Based on Postwar Rationing and Polygenic Scores

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  • van den Berg, Gerard J.

    (University of Groningen)

  • von Hinke, Stephanie

    (University of Bristol)

  • Wang, R. Adele H.

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract

Maternal sugar consumption in utero may have a variety of effects on offspring. We exploit the abolishment of the rationing of sweet confectionery in the UK on April 24, 1949, and its subsequent reintroduction some months later, in an era of otherwise uninterrupted rationing of confectionery (1942-1953), sugar (1940-1953) and many other foods, and we consider effects on late-life cardiovascular disease, BMI, height, type-2 diabetes and the intake of sugar, fat and carbohydrates, as well as cognitive outcomes and birth weight. We use individual-level data from the UK Biobank for cohorts born between April 1947–May 1952. We also explore whether one's genetic predisposition to the outcome can moderate the effects of prenatal sugar exposure. We find that prenatal exposure to derationing increases education and reduces BMI and sugar consumption at higher ages, in line with the "developmental origins" explanatory framework, and that the sugar effects are stronger for those who are genetically predisposed to sugar consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • van den Berg, Gerard J. & von Hinke, Stephanie & Wang, R. Adele H., 2022. "Prenatal Sugar Consumption and Late-Life Human Capital and Health: Analyses Based on Postwar Rationing and Polygenic Scores," IZA Discussion Papers 15544, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15544
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    1. Jie Huang & Bryan Howie & Shane McCarthy & Yasin Memari & Klaudia Walter & Josine L. Min & Petr Danecek & Giovanni Malerba & Elisabetta Trabetti & Hou-Feng Zheng & Giovanni Gambaro & J. Brent Richards, 2015. "Improved imputation of low-frequency and rare variants using the UK10K haplotype reference panel," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, November.
    2. Clare Bycroft & Colin Freeman & Desislava Petkova & Gavin Band & Lloyd T. Elliott & Kevin Sharp & Allan Motyer & Damjan Vukcevic & Olivier Delaneau & Jared O’Connell & Adrian Cortes & Samantha Welsh &, 2018. "The UK Biobank resource with deep phenotyping and genomic data," Nature, Nature, vol. 562(7726), pages 203-209, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gerard J. van den Berg & Stephanie von Hinke & Nicolai Vitt, 2023. "Early life exposure to measles and later-life outcomes: Evidence from the introduction of a vaccine," Papers 2301.10558, arXiv.org.
    2. Dora Costa, 2022. "Overweight Grandsons and Grandfathers' Starvation Exposure," NBER Working Papers 30599, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    nutrition; food consumption; gene-environment interplay; education; developmental origins;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • D45 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Rationing; Licensing

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