Quick Fact: Eating Sugar Causes Hyperactivity In Children (The Myth)
The medical research cannot be more clear - sugar does not cause hyperactive behavior in children, including ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This another urban myth has been inseminated by many popular "health" websites giving all sorts of fallacious parental advise. At least "dozen of studies" have proven that eating sugar has no effect on children's behavior. Ironically, what the studies have found out, is that children's consumption of sugar had effect on the behavior of their parents.
In one research all the kids received sugary drinks while half of the parents were told that their children drank sugar-free beverage. Parents who thought that their children received sugary drink reported their kids behavior as more hyperactive.
In another study one group of children was fed with sugar-rich diet while the other sugar-free. No evidence was found that sugar caused any shift in behavior, regardless if some of the children had already been diagnosed with ADHD. This is typical example of cognitive bias when adult caregivers believe that sugar has negative effect, so they see what they want to see.
On personal note. I have been suffering from ADHD Inattentive Type since I was 6-7 years old. The causes of my cognitive issues are directly traced to my social environment, specifically the unsustainable parenthood given by my adult caregivers (mother and father). My parents' inability to bring me up in sustainable way was rooted in their own unsustainable upbringing/social environment that had conditioned them to be intellectually and emotionally incapable of child caregiving.
References:
"Effects of Diets High in Sucrose or Aspartame on The Behavior and Cognitive Performance of Children", The New England Journal of Medicine, 1994.
"Effects of sugar ingestion expectancies on mother-child interactions", Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1994.
"The effect of sugar on behavior or cognition in children. A meta-analysis.", The Journal of the American Medical Association , 1996.
"Is Sugar Consumption Detrimental to Health? A Review of the Evidence 1995—2006", Food Science and Nutrition Journal, 2009.
"Festive medical myths", The British Medical Journal, 2008.
-logic
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