Blame It on Sugar

Blame It On Sugar

Ever give a child too much sugar? My mom’s advice would be not to do it because it will have them bouncing off the walls. Anyone who has been to a children’s birthday party and witnessed firsthand the hysteria of ten children full of cake and ice cream will surely agree. The fact is although most parents are convinced sugar will cause their children to go haywire, thanks to misinformation or the lack of, but this is just another example of conventional wisdom gone wrong.

The belief that sugar makes children hyper began about forty years ago. In 1973, Benjamin Feingold, a pediatric allergist from California, published a study, Why Your Child is Hyperactive, proposing artificial colors and artificial flavors cause hyperactivity in children (WebMD). He didn’t implicate sugar specifically but he did corner food additives, which soon led to sugar being scrutinized. In the 1980’s high-fructose corn syrup replaced sugar in sodas and other products (Taubes). The food industry portrayed high-fructose corn syrup as a healthful alternative, and that’s how the public perceived it… fructose good and sucrose bad.

Since then many studies have been conducted to find the link between sugar, food additives, and hyperactivity in children. The results have failed to show any connection between the three or confirm Feingold’s claims. Wesley Burks, MD, professor and chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center, says, "There haven't been any good scientific studies that show that there is an adverse effect on a child or adult's behavior chronically with the ingestion of foods" (Warner). In addition, a consensus panel convened by the National Institutes of Health concluded in 1982 that there was no scientific evidence to support the claim that colorings or other food additives cause hyperactivity (Warner).

So what do we know about sucrose a.k.a. sugar? It’s sweet, it’s delicious, and it’s a carbohydrate that is present naturally in fruits in vegetables. Sugar beets and sugar cane is where we get most of our sugar from because they contain the highest concentration of sugar for extraction. Sugar is about more than just taste, though, and no matter what you’ve heard it is not evil and it is not a poison. I’m looking at you Robert Lustig (Taubes). Sugar can act as a tenderizer, speed the growth of yeast, prevent jellies from going bad, and makes candy awesome through various degrees of recrystallization (sugar.org). Oh and did I mention it’s delicious too?

Too much sugar, like anything else, is not good for you. It has been linked to obesity, tooth decay, and even diabetes, but not behavior, specifically children’s. "The biggest myth of all is that food has any connection to behavior," says Steven Pliszka, MD, professor of psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at