Sugar is now the third food ingredient after salt and fat that people want to eliminate from their diet. Their main reason is the belief that sugar has a detrimental effect to behavior. Since the introduction of the Feingold diet in the 1970's, suggesting children's behavior will change when they have a diet free from salicylates, artificial sweeteners and colors, people are questioning the effect of sugar and hyperactivity in the diet of preschool and school-age children. Concerned parents believe that there is a link between a child's diet and behavior. However the majority of studies have not found a connection between the two.
Hyperactivity in children is now called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and it is estimated that it affects 3% of pre-adolescent children, with the disorder more common in boys than girls and also primarily in pre-school children. Major features of behavior are impulsiveness, low tolerance to frustration, short attention span, easy distraction and some violence.
What causes hyperactivity?
Refined sugars like sucrose and aspartame are considered sources for hyperactivity.
There have been different hypotheses proposed in the linking of sugar and hyperactivity. Firstly, an allergic response to sugar, secondly a rise in blood sugar level following ingestion and then after a few hours hypoglycaemia. The low blood sugar levels will stimulate the production of epinephrine, which could cause behavioral changes. These levels are seen primarily in those people on high carbohydrate diets and by consuming a diet high in protein, can prevent the low blood sugars. The reaction to aspartame is linked to the possibility of elevated phenylalanine concentrations. Phenylalanine is a large amino acid that may inhibit serotonin, although this has not been proved. In a study on aspartame done in 1998, it was found that elevated concentrations of phenylalanine had little effect on mood, activity levels, behavior ratings or cognitive results in participating children.
There have been many controlled studies done, but these were found to have problems with duration of experiment, and dosage levels. It has been argued that only single doses of sucrose were ingested and this amount was too small to observe any behavioral effects. The majority of experiments caused induced dietary challenges where the behavioral effects were observed several hours after children had consumed either a sugar containing food, an artificial sweetener or a placebo such as saccharin. Next the cognitive and hyperactive behaviors were recorded in children with ADHD, normal children and in children who parents thought they were sensitive to sugar. Most of these cases found that sugar did not play a role in hyperactivity. (Nutrition Review, 1994)
A study conducted by Wolraich and colleagues in 1994, that rented for nine weeks concluded that even when diet intakes are higher than recommended, sucrose or aspartame had no effect on children's behavior. A double blind controlled study (48 people) with two groups of children pre-school (3-5yrs) and school-age children (6-10 yrs) who were described by their parents as sugar sensitive were put on three different diets. One diet was high in sucrose and had no artificial sweeteners, another was low in sucrose and had aspartame, and the final diet was low in sucrose and had a placebo (saccharin). All diets were free from additives, colors and preservatives. Behavior was evaluated weekly and all foods were provided for the nine weeks. Independent observers evaluated the children weekly so as not to rely on parents for their own interpretation of results. Results strongly indicated that sucrose and aspartame did not cause hyperactivity. (Wolraich et al., 1994)
Another study done in 1995 correlated results from 12 years of studying the effects of sugar from 1982-1994. Results again showed that sugar did not affect the behavior of children. (Wolraich et al., 1995)
Conclusion
The question still remains "why do parents not want their children to take sugar?"
When a child is "hyper" at a party it may be just that that they are excited and their mood is high, but a parent may assume that this is due to excessive sugar intake. When a parent observes the public debate over sugar and hyperactivity, they may be more expectant of a reaction. It is possible also that a cause and effect relationship is occurring, whereby the behavior caused the increased sugar intake. There may also be a psychological link to do with the change in the child's behavior when they are receiving more attention during the preparation of food for the diet. The child is getting more attention and so their behavior improves.
