Two weeks ago, I announced on my blog that I would do a series on sugar and its effects on mental health. In the first episode I mentioned my experiences with giving up sugar and last week I talked about how sugar may be one of the causes of dementia. After doing more reading on the topic I seem to be opening a can of worms with many surprises about what sugar does to us. Today I would like to talk about one negative aspect of sugar that seems to have been proven to be a myth.
As you may have guessed by my previous blogs, I am against sugar and I am using my blog to find more and more reasons why we should all give it up. I must say that I think it is a lost cause trying to get kids away from sugar, though. Their whole world seems to revolve around sugar. They hang out for an ice cream on hot days, eat candy whenever it is on offer; add spoonful’s of it to their cereal, and consume sweet fizzy drinks whenever they can.
Adults are also to blame. Parents, family members, teachers, and many people that are around children also use sweet food as a reward to get children to do things. If you complete your homework on time, you will get a chocolate bar. If you don’t eat all your veggies, you won’t get any ice cream. We are re-enforcing this sugar eating habit on our kids and then we scream at them when they run around the house on a sugar high.
Well, according to research on children aged between 6 and 11, sugar intake or in this case sucrose does not appear to increase the incidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Research was also conducted on children with normal attention spans. Children aged 3-11 were separated into groups and given diets high in sugar, saccharin and aspartame and found no significant differences in cognitive and behavioural performance.
So, this seems to be one myth busted. Of course, there are still the issues of diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay, to name just a few of the problems children could have from excess sugar consumption but at least we can tick hyperactivity off the list.
If you ever want to discuss your addiction to sugar or any other mental health issues feel free to contact me. The first session is free.
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1.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6193136/
2.https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id=157003
