Wednesday 8 October 2008

Sugar and hyper kids


True or False, sugar makes kids hyperactive?

False.

They’ve studied this pretty intensely and, contrary to what many parents will tell you, sugar does not make kids hyper.

Kids tend to eat sweet stuff on special occasions- sleepovers, holidays, movies, parties- occasions when kids are excited and active anyways, thus giving the impression it’s the sugar’s fault... when it’s not.

The research has also found that parents’ beliefs affect what they see. 2 groups of children were given the same drink but the parents of one group were told their kids were given a sugar-containing drink whereas the other group of parents were told their kids were given a drink containing no sugar. When asked to evaluate their kids’ behaviours after consuming the drink, the parents that thought their kids consumed the sweet drink reported that their kids were more rambunctious compared to the other group of parents.

But just because it doesn't cause kids to be overactive, doesn't mean sugar's good for them!

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