Does Sugar Affect Hyperactivity?

Sheila told me the other day that she's again removing sugar from her son's diet. She's convinced from what she's heard and from her own experience that removing sugar from her son's diet has decreased his level of hyperactivity.

Many people claim that sugar (such as sucrose), aspartame (NutraSweet), and artificial flavors and colors cause hyperactivity and other behavior problems in children. Unfortunately, it's not so simple. As Dr. Michael Regalado summarizes in an article on WebMD.com,

The notion that food can have an effect on behavior grew popular in 1973 when allergist Benjamin Feingold, M.D., published the Feingold Diet. He advocated a diet free of salicylates, food colorings and artificial flavoring for treating hyperactivity. Although Feingold's diet didn't call for eliminating sugar specifically, it did suggest to many parents that food additives might be better avoided. Little surprise, then, that refined sugar soon came under scrutiny.

However, double-blind studies - in which neither the children, their parents, nor the researchers knew which child had sugar and which received a placebo - indicated that "sugar in the diet did not affect the children's behavior." (ibid.)

On the other hand, refined (processed) 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. This might trigger adrenaline and make a child more active. Sometimes, falling adrenaline levels bring on a period of decreased activity (Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia).

Thus, an observation that eliminating sugar has an immediate effect on behavior is truly credible. But, similar to the process in the rest of us, the change in blood glucose level doesn't last. And for children who do not have to watch their blood glucose levels (eg, as when they suffer from diabetes), eliminating sugar does not solve the problem of hyperactivity.

Moreover, the expectation that sugar will impact on a child's activity level affects the way we view that child's behavior. A study published in the August 1994 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology showed that parents who believe a child's behavior is affected by sugar are more likely to perceive their children as hyperactive when they've been led to believe the child has just had a sugary drink (WebMD.com).

Rather, it is the whole context in which that child is managed that impacts on his or her behavior. Monitoring the amount of sweets in a diet is healthy in terms of tooth decay and nutrition; using proper behavior management techniques and setting limits with love and consistency will help the hyperactivity.