To think that caffeine & sugar are drugs?

[dieselKiller]

The mood altering effects of caffeine & sugar are pretty obvious, I think, and both positive (more energy) & negative (anxiety, aggression). AIBU to think that we should be more explicit as a society that caffeine and sugar are mood-altering drugs?

Do you talk to your kids about the effects of caffeine and sugar so they’re not caught unawares by them?

I agree with you.
They are both addictive and hard to give up. So many people are overweight because of a sugar addiction and many people can't function without their coffee or Diet Coke all day.
Some research scientists have claimed that sugar is more addictive than cocaine.
We don't need either of them in our diet. People are doing fine being caffeine free or on keto diets. Maybe doing better than they have before.

I think it may be your wording, but if you start to talk to children about sugar and caffeine being drugs

1. You run the risk of labelling food that is perfectly fine in moderation as “bad”. Better to educate around healthy eating etc.
2. You run the risk of confusion when it comes to actual drugs (the ones bought via dealers). While there are sections of MN who seeM to think that having a slice of cake is akin to taking heroin this isn’t really the case.

Caffeine is a drug, sugar is not, fact

It’s in Y6. Good job too as parents clearly don’t understand (see this thread). So it’s all drugs and their impacts on the body. Prescription, illegal, alcohol, caffeine etc. Just as they go to secondary school so they can make informed choices in the face of peer pressure. High doses of caffeine can be dangerous in younger people hence the restrictions in many countries with energy drinks. It is a stimulant, has a physiological impact and impacts the nervous system. Scientifically it’s a drug.

I agree, TheRealSlimShandy, that word choice is important and I’d encourage everybody me to tailor the message to the audience. In terms of the word “drug”, I wonder if I had used the word “medicine” what the reactions would have been? I wouldn’t recommend using either word with very young children. I think either word used as part of a conversation with a teenager would be fine.

Significant withdrawal symptoms or use of the drug to relieve or avoid withdrawal are also characteristics of the condition.

https://www.verywellmind.com/caffeine-addiction-4157287 gives basic summary.

I don't mind the description of caffeine as a drug, same for alcohol. The most commonly used drug in the world. It crosses the blood+brain barrier and interacts with our neurotransmitter receptors blocking the ability of our neurotransmitters.

But sugar is an essential part of our metabolic processes so it's a different category. It's not doing anything like what I've described above for caffeine. It might well have negative properties and it's absolutely important to reduce the quantity of UPFs we eat, but it's not a drug in the way caffeine and alcohol are.

Has anyone, who has caffeine in the morning to start their day, ever tried not having it?

There’s no doubt some people are more sensitive to it and the withdrawal is pretty bad!

I think putting them in the category of ‘drug’ along with drugs like heroin and meth and comparing sugar and caffeine to them will make it look as though high class drugs are not as harmful as they actually are. If you get brought up being told that you consume sugar, you’re consuming drugs… you’re going to grow up and think why would the other drugs hurt consuming them too.

I also think it’s scaremongering, instead why not focus on educating on how alcohol is a drug but is the most ‘normal’ in everyone’s life but has the most harmful effects. But no, apparently people want to focus on how sugar and caffeine are so harmful and addictive

Yes more so with my teenager who is now old enough to buy red bull and has a big sweet tooth. I found that sugar played a role in my mood and anxiety going up and down with the up and sugar crash due to the way I was eating chocolate and I’ve tried to talk about that

being aware that coffee & cake aren’t completely neutral to your mood and that there are both positive and negative effects (which are dose-dependent).

That statement is entirely true of all foodstuffs and water, too.

Not a proper research paper

Well technically yes they're drugs sugar is highly addictive and destructive

As for labelling things as bad, I haven’t done that. Paracetamol can be useful. Don’t take too much of it. Caffeine can be useful. Don’t take too much of it.

Someone asked “what’s the point of the thread?” Here’s an anecdote that might make that clear: A company introduced a luxury coffee machine to an office. The machine made good coffee. Certain employees drank more coffee as a result. Perhaps some employees were drinking 5 or more large coffees a day. Some employees noticed that their relationships with their co-workers were becoming more fractious. Reducing the coffee intake restored harmony. In fact, harmony started to be restored as soon as it was recognised that caffeine was playing a part in people’s perception of a situation.

If you don’t recognise that caffeine increases anxiety and aggression, how do you solve the problem?

If you don’t arm kids with this knowledge, they’ve got fewer tools to deal with situations they find themselves in and fewer chances to understand their own reactions.

Energy drinks are restricted in this country under 16. You need ID in Lidl.

However, lumping together energy drinks and the occasional coke or instant coffee (because they contain caffeine) is silly and counter productive to children who aren't stupid. Hence understanding what moderation is. Eating a whole bag of raisins everyday is also very bad for you.

No sugar isn't a drug it's what food is made from

Caffeine certainly IS addictive.

It really doesn’t matter what people think. Caffeine is scientifically a drug.

Which is what the Curriculum does. Whatever people think - caffeine is a drug. To say it’s not and deny it has a physiological impact (as many are doing) is wrong.

No, it isn't.

Sugar is not a drug and is not addictive. Addictive has a particular meaning which is different to people like the taste so eat a lot of it. Sugar is also essential for your body.

Of all the problems with our society, this is the one that's really worrying you?

I completely agree with you, op, and this is now where we are scientifically and it is the future.

The fact that excess sugar and poor eating habits cause anxiety can be really powerful knowledge for us.

UPFs are definitely addictive, that is the point of them. Listen to Ultra Processed People, it's brilliant.