can sugar or chocolate or something else really cause bad behavior in a child...

[cariboo]

or is it all nonsense? anyone have any personal experience or medical knowledge about this? thx

just from personal exp ds usually deteriorates after any more than a small amount of sugar

but nothing compared to sweeteners [shudder]

Ds is being seen by a psych. I've posted about him several times before & as it turns out, psych says ds(4.10) is NOT mentally ill, ie bipolar or ADHD. But out-of-control behavior continues & we're worn out.

Gave ds a chocolate pudding/yogurt type thing yesterday for his snack & 5 mins after he ate it, he went ballistic.

My ds is reasonably ok with sugar, just a bit more energetic than usual, but he really deteriorates with chocolate. I don't usually let him have any unless we are in an open space where he can run it off without damaging anything or anyone. Any attempt to get him to stay still or be quiet usually makes him aggressive and he hits and spits.

I think there is something in it - insomuch that it sends your blood levels soaring, and crashing. And I agree with the sweetners, try to avoid them.

That's incredible.

But poor ds - he adores chocolate.

Is it an allergy? A food intolerance? A latent diabetic symptom or some other hormonal reaction? Can it be tested for medically?

Sorry to bombard you with questions!

White chocolate doesn't seem to affect in the same way because it doesn't contain the actual cocoa. My good friend had the same reactions in her son, bad tempered, aggressive, hyperactive, unable to concentrate, she found the same with monosodium glutamate in stock cubes as well as chinese food, caffeine, and various food colourings. When these items were eliminated from his diet, he was a different child.

A friend of mine is blaming sugar for the very bad behaviour of her child. I have wondered myself what the scientific evidence is for this. My friend says there isn't any scientific proof yet but she strongly believes the link exists.

DD had some birthday cake for the first time recently and was like a child from hell afterwards. She usually only has Organix biscuits with fruit sugar in so this was pretty much her first taste of proper sugar. I am convinced there is something in it, it cant surely just be coincidence.

my dd1 turns wild with too much sugar or too much colours. i am sure that there is research that proves that colours in food is linked to adhd, is she sure that it is sugar and not e numbers that are causing his behavior?

dd1 is a lot worse with food colours than sugar, the only sweets i allow her to have is chocolate or icecream as they have no colours in them and the sugar in those dont seem to affect her.

I've also heard (and read) that E-numbers are to be avoided but am not exactly sure what E-numbers are for. Chemicals, certainly but as colourants? Artificial flavours? And if they're harmful, why are they used so commonly? Have any tests been carried out?

My two are fine with it all luckily, but my cousin was never allowed any cherryade when we were growing up. Nan would buy fizzy drinks for parties and he could only have R.Whites because e numbers and sweeteners would make him go crazy.
(We used to sneak him cherryade and watch him kick off)

e numbers colour the food. so i avoid anything coloufull for dd1! the resaerch is only recent i think i saw it on bbc news website if you wanna check but am in middle of trying to get ready for a wedding so i cant link anything dont have time! sorry!

was just meant to be checking msn really!

GS doesn't eat many sweets of choccy - he just isn't that interested and would genuinely rather have fruit or veg to chew on. So when he comes back from eating at his friends houses after they fill him with crap (as they don't have anything else) he is a pain in the butt. Shouting, screaming, bouncing of the furniture and generally running wild. They all seem to think he's odd becasue he insists on water with meals when theirs drink gallons of fizzy or dilute stuff constantly. And I'm sure that they think I ban him from sugar and I've had some odd looks in the supermarket when he is runing round with a broccoli (or some other veg) shouting "Can I have this?" I've never deliberately stopped him having anything, but we do eat very healthily - which is probably why sugar has the effect on him that it does.
I am always very sceptical of those who insist sugar affects their kids when all I ever see are those kids eating sweets or constantly drinking fizzy or juice, or dilute stuff.

Someone mentioned something about the sugar crash on here the other day actually and suggested combating it by having milk at the same time, I have no idea why or if it would work, but if it does then that might be a way round it?
Could possibly be why mine don't kick off, they only have chocolatey type things at supper, with which they have milk.

They had an experiment on child of our time where they gave children who parents said that they get high on sugar, all the worst drinks, cakes etc at a party, but showed the parents healthy food that they were supposed to have eaten. The parents said how calm the children were.
The next week same children invited to another party, children fed healthy food but parents shown sugary food and the party was loud and fun. Parents commented on how they were all on a sugar high and were shocked to find out that hadn't had any.

Think things like caffeine in chocolate or some drinks can cause hyperactivity.

Victoriansqualor, the only times I have ever noticed my dc's become hyperactive has been after a hot chocolate drink and when my son was very little tea both with milk. The other time was with antibiotics.

I've just had to change ds's hayfever meds because of his reaction to sodium benzoate preservative in the syrups, which is known to increase hyperactivity. Be careful, it's in all children's syrups, including Calpol etc. It's also used extensively in squashes and other products to prolong shelf life.

Personally I don't have a problem with sugar because you know where you are with it, what the potential issues are, but it's the chemical additives that concern me - aspartame, colourings etc. Couldn't believe it when I found out that Piriton tablets contain Sunset Yellow. I can almost accept an additive to make a medicine taste nice but to make it look pretty?!

YES!!! i have always been a little sceptical about it and thought it would be a subtle change in behaviour. Until i started buying DD cakes from the bakers covered in hundreds and thousands - the change in her behaviour was stark and left me

But has any formal medical research been done? Who can forget all the fuss over the MMR jab?

Have a look at this link for research on additives:

www.actiononadditives.com/#

And seriously, don't go there with the MMR thing.

DS1 has been known to go nuts after eating cake or drinking (very rarely) fizzy orange. He's completely uncontrollable and cackles like a mad witch.

yes it can - if you child has genuine problems witrh those foods. As one of my son's symptoms was self harming it was bleedin obvious. You do tend to spot a correlation in your child between additives and biting his arm to a bloody pulp.

ironic really. he was fine with most food before his MMR.
God - the things I keep imagining . Thank god for formal medical research .

ds1 beats his head on concrete when he's eaten something he shouldn't. I have taken photos of the bruising.

He's bad with lots of foods; gluten, sweetners big problems. His biggest no-no is peanuts (or more likely the stuff that is sprayed on them when they're stored).

And there is research going on into that peanut preservative. (not in relation to it being a peanut preservative but in relation to some of the behaviours seen in autism).

Don't worry pagwatch. No doubt like me you imagined your child talking before he lost speech as well.

hi
yurtjimjams ?
not dressing today ? I go on holiday and the place goes to crap

I haven't come across any research that says sugar causes hyperactivity, though as suggested at can can cause rapid rise in blood sugar levels which can make them go a bit mad.

It's only certain e numbers that have ben linked with hyperactivity and ADHD. Commonly numbers E101 - 139, if I remember correctly.
E150 is another one and all the benzoates like E211. MSG (E621 I think)is one to avoid too)

Alot of ingredients are given E numbers but not all of them are are harmful, and some are from natural sources.