Parents of young children never believe this, but the answer, at least according to some experts, is no.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a book called “The Official, Complete Home Reference Guide to Your Child’s Nutrition,” says that “when put to the test, the sugar-behavior link does not hold up.” One study cited by the doctors’ group found “no effect on behavior or the ability to concentrate when sugar intake was far above normal, even among those whom parents identified as ‘sugar sensitive.’ ”
Another study cited by the group found that “when boys whose parents believed them to be sugar reactive were each given a large dose of sugar, they were actually less active than before.” Several other studies that compared blood sugar levels found that even kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, had exactly the same response to sugar consumption as children without the disorder.
Medline, a service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, does note that refined sugars may have some effect on children’s activity. “Because refined sugars and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly, they produce rapid fluctuations in blood glucose levels.” It is possible, the site continues, that this “might trigger adrenaline and make a child more active.”
But Dr. Michael Shannon, chief of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston, said, “I have taken care of children for 25 years” — his own and other people’s. “I have never believed or seen what I thought was an association between sugar and hyperactivity.”
What may be confusing for parents, he said, is that many sugary foods also contain caffeine, which can hype kids up, and it’s not always obvious which foods contain this stimulant. “I do think there is an association between caffeine and hyperactivity,” Shannon concluded, “but not between sugar and hyperactivity.”