You can Eat Only One Piece of Halloween Candy!

As a child, my parents allowed me to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I used to eat ice cream for breakfast and chocolate all the time. Growing up, one would think I would be hyper in my childhood years because of the common belief that sugar causes hyperactivity in children. In my case, and in most with other children, this is not true at all. In fact, I was never a hyper child. So how can it be that sugar never made me hyper but “causes” other children to be? As stated, this is a myth and is actually proven to be false.
As with other myths, this one is continuously passed around by word of mouth. Parents believe that if they give their child sugar, their child will run wild. What the parents do not realize is that the environment that the child is in, or even how the child is raised, is what causes this hyperactivity, not the sugar. Many times when children become hyper it is when they are attending a party or something that will excite them, hence the reason for the hyperactivity. Another cause may be that if the parent is allowing the child to consume sugar and they appear hyper, the parent is lenient in other ways and allows their child to run wild, therefore there is no control over the child.
As stated in the YouTube video posted, there have been experiments performed to test this theory and the results have been that the placebo effect is actually what plays a role in this belief. Parents who were told that their child had consumed sugar, when the child actually had not, reported that their child was more hyper. This is evidence that parents are influenced by the belief of the correlation between sugar and hyperactivity, when in reality there is no correlation between the two.



Sources:
Lawson, Timothy J. Scientific Perspectives on Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: Readings for General Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
"YouTube - ‪Does Sugar Cause Hyperactivity in Children?‬‏." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 29 June 2011. .

The Effect of Sugar in Kids

When I was a kid my parents used to hold back on the sugary drinks and the sugar filled candy because they said it would make me hyper. I believed this my entire life, up until I researched it for this blog post. It turns out, that there have been many studies performed that prove that this myth isn't true.
According to one study by Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll from the Indiana University School of Medicine the reason for this myth is all in the minds of the parents. When they are told that the child has been given sugar, they believe the child seems more hyperactive, however the child isn't given anything with sugar. This proves that its only in the mind of the parents.
Because the parents react differently to the children having sugar, the children start to believe it effects them. Like the many things parents pass onto their kids, this is one of them. This is known as a placebo effect, when because you believe something is happening, you act like it is. So because kids think the sugar they are eating is making them hyper, they act more hyper then they would have without the sugar. Although sugar may not cause kids to become hyperactive, it's still not good to have sugar often. High levels of bad sugar can cause obesity, tooth decay, and many more health problems. So it is still important to control the amount of sugar given to children.

Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2008/12/medical_journal_says_sugar_does_not_make_kids_hyper.html
http://www.misconceptionjunction.com/index.php/2011/04/sugar-doesnt-make-kids-hyper/

Sweet News

Many parents believe sugar is the cause for their child's cranky behavior. Is this really true or are they trying to make two things that don't go together connect because "it's the only logical explanation."

Why would it be the only logical explanation? Well, the child seems to only get moody right after they have a lolli-pop, or after birthday parties. Logically, that means the child had some sugar and there seems to be a correlation between having sugar and getting moody. Are we just grasping for a quick answer?

First lets point out that babies, in fact, come into this world with a natural sweet tooth, which is what attracts them to breast milk. So, if we are brought into this world craving sugar, how can it be detrimental to our moods/health.

Pediatricians and nutritionists say sugar can have a healthful place in a child's diet as long as it is consumed in modest amounts. In fact, a few drops of sugar water can help soothe a fussing baby. Well then, what is the problem? The problem seems to be that children are getting too much too soon.

It seems that an excess of sugar causes high blood pressure which in turn cuases high amounts of insulin in the blood to wipe out the sugar. The sugar is cleared quickly and this makes the mood change quickly as well. It also makes one crave sugar and puts one into a vicious cycle of highs and lows.

Source:http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Recipes--Nutrition-For-Children/Sugar-Does-It-Make-Kids-Hyper

Sugar and Children's Hyperactivity

For years, I have heard sugar makes children go wild from parents, teachers and even kids. This "broken record," was known by I feel everyone and many in fact believed it. I know, I did. I guess for many children this was the time when we were able to run around screaming, and when we would get in trouble...just blame the candy. But to my knowledge from our lectures and also some research, it was amazing to find that this is actually not true, and there is no effect on sugar and being hyper.

A source named Nonas from ABC News states, "There is no such thing as a sugar high. And there is no such thing as sugar making you nuts. There just isn't." When this source asked some children what happens when they consume sugar answers like it makes me crazy, I go nuts... were some to name a few.

Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll of Indiana University School of Medicine performed an experiment to prove that sugar had no impact of children. They stated, "At least 12 double blind randomised controlled trials have examined how children react to diets containing different levels of sugar. None of these studies, not even studies looking specifically at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, could detect any differences in behaviour between the children who had sugar and those who did not." This I find interesting. It is just funny that for so many years, people were so serious about sugar and children being hyper. But there is no proof that it actually exists. I wonder how those parents who denied to give anything sugary to their children still feel on the subject?

Does sugar affect children's hyperactivity was submitted to Coca Cola, to be answered, definitely not. I guess alot of the candy companies are happy to find that these studies show no affect on childrens' hyperactivity and I guess I was one of many that were able to blame the crazy energy on the sugar we consumed.