When you see cheering little trick-or-treaters showing up at your doorstep anxiously banging at the door and demanding treats, you cannot help but think, at times, that some of these overexcited kids probably had a little too much sugar. And while you may be right about some children having consumed plenty of candy, it’s important to point out that their behavior has very little to do with their sugar intake.
The truth is, there are many reasons for adults to limit kids’ sugar intake, but a so-called “sugar high” is not one of them.
All of us can probably recall a time when our parents blamed sugar for our loud or restless behavior. I can certainly name a few such memories myself. After all, childhood and candy go hand in hand.
Indeed, this concept, known as a “sugar high” or “sugar rush” spans generations and continents; too bad it’s false… You read that right. There is no real evidence suggesting that sugar influences kids’ behavior, despite there being over a dozen studies on the subject.
The idea that sugar can make kids hyperactive isn’t new. According to the New York Times, it first appeared in medical literature in 1922, even though the myth itself must be even older than that. Since then, the infamous “sugar high” has been elaborated on in countless movies, cartoons, and other publications, snowballing into the “common-sense” idea that it is today.
But pediatricians and medical researchers alike patiently explain that there is no such thing as a “sugar high”. Of over 10-15 studies conducted on the subject, only one smaller study from 1995 suggests that adrenaline levels in kids rose slightly more than in adults after eating sugar. No other studies managed to replicate these suspicious findings.
Research from 1994 tested how kids aged 3-5 and 6-10 would react to different types of sweeteners, including sugar, aspartame (a sweetener believed to cause hyperactivity), and saccharin (another sugar replacement). All of the kids were described by parents as being very “sensitive to sugar.”
Neither the researchers nor the parents knew which sweetener was given to which child. Having checked the kid’s behavior and cognition on several occasions, no differences were found among the kids, suggesting that candy does not impact kids’ behavior or cognition.
In a similar vein, there’s no conclusive evidence that sugar worsens the symptoms of ADHD in children, so there’s no special recommendation to avoid sugar in kids with ADHD.
You probably already heard this one. When we eat sugar, this leads to an increase in blood sugar, which, in turn, urges the pancreas to produce more insulin. The insulin quickly breaks down the excess sugar. End of story.
The exception to that rule a people with diabetes, whose pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. People with diabetes know all too well what having high blood sugar feels like. Instead of feeling hyperactive, having high blood sugar makes you feel tired, weak, and unwell overall.
Even when it does occur, a spike of energy caused by sugar is very brief and weak, so it definitely cannot explain the seemingly never-ending energy you see in many children.
Related article: Exposed! The Shocking Amount of Sugar in Your Kids' Food
When a child perceives sweets as a rare and special treat, they may experience a dopamine rush after receiving them. But the nuance is that the jolt of excitement will occur even if the child doesn’t eat the treat; meaning that it all boils down to psychology and not a physical reaction to sugar. That’s why any bad behavior in a child seemingly caused by sugar is most likely a psychological reaction too. Cutting out sugar, in turn, may not help the behavior.
As for the main topic - candy - try not to give the little ones too much of it, for it can be bad for their teeth and increase their risk of serious chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer in adulthood. Hence, candy is best left as a special treat to enjoy only occasionally. And yes, Halloween is the perfect time for such an exception, so we wish you a spooktacular trick-or-treating season!
H/T: Huffington Post
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