CINCINNATI (WKRC) - As a father, I used to watch my son’s behavior spin out of control after he had sugar-filled foods or drinks. Like most parents I know, I became convinced those sweet treats were to blame for things turning sour.
Even today, many parents swear sugar causes their kids to become hyper. But more than two decades ago, a definitive review of 16 scientific studies of sugar and children concluded, “sugar does not affect the behavior or cognitive performance of children.”
Since that 1995 review was published, no study has disproven that conclusion.
Indeed, a study published by the National Institutes of Health reveals sugar’s connection to hyperactivity is all about parental perception. In that 1994 study, half of the children got sugar. The other half got a sugar substitute.
The mothers of the children who did not receive sugar consistently reported their children became hyper after consuming the sugar substitute.
So, before you blame sugar, you should know studies from more than two decades ago sorted out the real effects of sugar on our kids.
Parents who have been making a connection between sugar and child hyperactivity now stand corrected because that sugar connection been proven by science to be WRONG.
