My daughter and I had a conversation the other night about, of all things, the effects of sugar on children. She, like all parents, is convinced that if you give a child sugar, it will make them hyperactive. I mean, come on, everyone knows that. How could you even suggest otherwise?
Well, I did. I told her that it wasn't true. It told her that science has studied the question and found no evidence linking hyperactive behavior in children to sugar. She, of course, didn't believe me. Evidence aside, you only had to watch her kids get out of hand, bouncing off the walls after eating ice cream in the evening, and it was irrelevant what science said. They were wrong and she was right and we were done.
So I researched the question again, just for my benefit. I was fascinated by what I found. First, to be clear, it is obvious that excessive sugar in a child's diet is a bad thing. What effect does sugar have on kids? Well, it tends toward obesity, increases the risk of diabetes, tooth decay, that kind of thing. Bad stuff. Don't do it. But, the question wasn't, "Is excessive sugar good for kids?" The question is "Does consuming sugar make kids hyperactive?"
The studies were all agreed: Sugar is not responsible for hyperactivity in children. Fine. But why is it that it is a nearly universal belief that sugar makes children hyper? The studies weren't silent on that question. There are various explanations. Some experts believe that it is real "because parents are convinced it exists". In other words, they're looking for it and they find it. One study found that teenagers who habitually drank sugary sodas had higher rates of hyperactivity. The problem was that there was no link to cause and effect. Did the sodas cause the hyperactive behavior? Or did they drink a lot of sodas because they were hyperactive? And if it was the soda, was it the sugar (or, perhaps, the caffeine, for instance)? You see, not helpful. One researcher suggested, "It's due to parents' expectations of what behavior is likely to be after kids eat a lot of sugar." That is, either the parents are looking for it and, therefore, find it, or, maybe it's that the parents anticipate it and that anticipation produces a response in children.
In one study they found that the subjects whose parents identified their children as sugar reactive tended to display more disruptive behavior than those who did not. Another suggestion is that environment rather than diet causes the problem. Often the hyperactive behavior occurs right after dessert. You've "tied down" your kid for twenty minutes while they eat and then you set them free after they're done. They "go crazy" because they've been released, not because they had dessert.
There are two interesting things I see here. First, the apparent aim of the discussion is to explain why it is that "my kids misbehave". Certainly it's not a matter of poor discipline. Clearly it's a product of what they ate. If we could just avoid giving them sugary foods, they'd be well-behaved kids. Do parents really believe that? These days, I think they do. The other interesting thing is more general. Why is it that science is convincing when it agrees with us, but tossed out when it doesn't? Lots of these same parents would argue against ideas that are non-scientific because science didn't support them. But many of the articles repeatedly warned against trying to convince parents they were wrong. They were right, they knew they were right, and don't try to convince them with the facts or anything. Interesting ... at least to me.
7 comments:
Most people don't like to have facts pointed out to them when they are wrong, and since we are proud, we often wall up against anything that goes against what we believe if it might have some change to us. Its unfortunate, but its part of being fallen people.
i am a mother of a 3 year old. all raising is based on studies by the latest doctors, psychologists, teachers, etc... she is a happy go lucky child, loving and sweet. i can see when her behaviors change with her diet as it goes along in her aging. things like, when she is starving, she is mad. when she is too full, she is discontented - unhappy. at a snack time, during a regularly busy day, for her, when she eats a half a cup of grapes - her personality changes, like as if her serotonin levels grow off the charts. it's not like she's misbehavin', it's more like she's high. i know when i eat too much of any kind of sugar, i get pumped up a bit and then come down with a headache - 10 minutes later. so i personally don't think that the tests are quite accurate, since there are way many too many different types of kids and ages and types of sugars, that i think this would take a much longer time to study this than so far given (in controlled studies that make any sence) in order to make a full and conclusive answer.
i've had many people talk with me about my daughters odd behavior after having any kind of sugars - all told me to talk to a doctor about it. so i finally did. he said all what you said, not in so many words, but, the second i told any one what he said. man, the looks i got from each person. you would have thought i vomited on their shoes! wow!
i do believe the misbehavin'thing is a bit from environment, surely. but i still think that sugar does have an effect on the body and a child does have a body - there for their bodies are getting effected by sugars when we are metabolizing them. how can it not! our bodies get effected by everything we ingest, there is now way that sugar can get left out of it.
i've deduced that when my child eats any kind of sugar, she goes through the high (hyper, but not misbehavin') then goes through the come-down, where she feels kind of yucky - not knowing why, and reacts to it with a bad attitude because she hates feeling that way - i know i do (hate feeling the come-down from too much sugar) - dont sugars dehydrate too? that has alot to do with a persons perception of things too. on many levels. there is proof of that.
i think the tests (studies) that have been done, don't encompass the entire effect of sugar in the metabolizing process in the body and what the real cause and effect are from the bodies reactions to things like dehydration and the types of chemicals that are released by the brain when ingesting sugars. (what chemical is realeased by the brain when we eat chocolate? and how does it effect us? i think they know that one already)
Anonymous, I suspect the problem lies somewhere between "sugar makes them more energetic" and "sugar makes them misbehave." I think it's clear from the way the body uses sugar that people (all kinds, young and old) get a short burst of energy from sugar. The question is can we chalk up the misbehavior that so very often accompanies that energy burst to sugar? I think not.
David, fortunately that only applies to non-Christians ... right? :)
Ditto. I have suspected that there was no connection, and I would not dare try to convince my wife otherwise.
I think you are more correct with the "set free from the dinner table" reason than the ice cream, frankly. When we let our kids run around, watch TV, play with their toys after dinner, they are always "hyper" and noisy, etc. We did not like this pattern, so we changed it. Instead they have to get into their PJs directly after dinner, the TV stays off, and it's bedtime after that. If they get a dessert, they have to sit and eat it quietly (sometimes before PJs are donned and sometimes after). Then teeth brushing and bed. And guess what? Our kids aren't hyper, because the behavior expectation has been clearly set that they will not be bouncing off the walls or playing with toys after dinner. It doesn't matter whether they get to eat some ice cream or not, they know that after dinner it's time for PJs and being quiet and getting ready for bed.
Interesting data point. That empirical data suggests there is reason to question the "common sense" view that sugar makes kids hyper. But, hey, we don't want to deal with the evidence. We know what's going on. :)
Post a Comment