Sugar never did cause hyperactivity. It is just another myth

[onager]

I expect this has been done before, but I still hear people talking about sugar as though it has some connection to hyperactivity so I thought I'd post it.

Sugar and hyperactivity - scroll down a bit

Many parents believe that sugar makes their children more restless and hyperactive, and deliberately limit their intake of sweets and fizzy drinks accordingly. Yet this supposed link has been extensively researched and does not hold up well. Dr Vreeman and Dr Carroll found 12 double-blind, randomised controlled trials investigating the issue, and not one found differences in hyperactivity between those who consumed large amounts of sugar and those who did not.

Studies have found that when parents think that their children have been given a sugary drink, even when it is sugar-free, they rate their children's behaviour as more hyperactive. ?The differences were in the parents' minds?, the researchers said.>>

Sugar never made a jot of difference to my two. They don't get it in its masses but when they do they're just the same as normal.

Agree with ChristmasDisco. None of my children behave any differently regardless of what they have and haven't eaten.

Loved the experiment they did on Child of Our Time where they invited children to two parties. Their parents all claimed they got hyperactive when they had suger.

The first party the parents saw high suger foods when the children were dropped off.But the food was taken away and they were given healthy food , but clowns and excitement.
Parents picked up children said yes they are on a suger high.

2nd party parents shown healthy food but children given high suger foods but nice calm parties. None of the parents after could believe their children had been eating suger all afternoon.

The only time mine seem to have been hyperactive when they were little was from caffeine and antibiotics.

I was under the impression it was additives rather than sugar that caused the problem. Maybe it's because things like sweets & bought cakes contain both sugar & additives that's where the link comes from.

it's hardly surprising that children get hyper at a party with or without sugar is it

But the experiment showed party food - full of sugar and additives -didn't make any difference to their behaviour compared to 'healthy' food.

I've wondered about this in the past, not with my kids but with other mums complaining about their own. Supports what I tend to think about it

I've always thought that coke makes a difference to mine.

Yes with coke it's probably the caffeine.

caffiene is a stimulant so I would imagine that it effects children's behaviour.

No... but 'Beaster' is an excellent album

Same as Christmasdisco, sugar never had any effect on my 9.

Sugar has always had an effect on me.

When I was a teenager, if my friends saw me eating a Mars bar, they would say "Oh no!" as they knew I wuold be bouncing off the walls. It was always short lived, though and I soon came down of my "high".

I still engoy a sugar rush.

I think anybody who has more sugar in their blood has more energy, athough they're not neccessarily hyperactive. Obvioulsy the best way to

Sugar has had no effect on my 2 behaviour, I have always been very dubious about this theory.

Doesn't make a jot of difference to mine either.

I'll confess now that all 3 of mine have stuff with sugar and additives (ie Fruit Shoots) on a reasonably regular basis (yes even DS3 ) and there's no change in any of them at all.

I have seen the studies on sugar and hyperactivity and they seem convincing. But some children are very much affected by additives (especially colours) and that is also backed up by good studies. My daughter is fine with artificial colours, but they have horrible effects on my son, who has a much more sensitive system. He becomes manic and can't stop talking rubbish. Like someone on coke (the drug not the drink!). Too much sugary food makes him sick but not hyper/manic.

my dd's are affected by Frubes - no question, they get hyper and bouncy and loud every time. Make of that what you will.