“Don’t give your child sugar, then there will be no one that can stand him/her!”. We have all heard this phrase, either it was told to us as children, or we now repeat it to our children.
The expression originates from the belief that sugar is the trigger for excessive hyperactivity in children. It is said that it makes them uncontrollable and, for this reason, many mothers dread giving candy or sugar to their children.
However, the truth is that there is no study that certifies that, in fact, this food is the main trigger for a child with excessive energy.
The first thing parents need to distinguish is whether their child is engaged in age-appropriate activities, or if, on the contrary, he or she is showing an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
To understand these terms, we interviewed Karelya Coronel, a graduate in Special Education, who has had children with various learning disorders in her practice.
According to the expert, “attention deficit is a condition, not a disease. It is a neurobiological disorder that is detected in childhood, and is usually accompanied by hyperactivity. In school-age children, this disorder manifests itself in impulsive actions because they are easily distracted by any stimulus present and because they have short attention spans in situations that require sustained mental effort”.
In this sense, Coronel emphasizes that the causes of this disorder are still under investigation, but could be due to genetics, environmental factors, and problems in the central nervous system at specific moments of the developmental stage.
“Throughout my experience both in the classroom and in private practice, I have heard mothers say that sugar is the catalyst, that it makes children excessively active,” Coronel explains. “However, none of that is scientifically proven. There are no answers or studies that back up this claim”.
According to the expert, children are active beings and, therefore, it should cause more worrying if they do not move, since it is normal for them to jump, climb, etcetera.
On the other hand, Coronel assured that children with this disorder may be sensitive to certain foods, or allergic to certain chemical additives and specific colorants, but no research has shown that sugar is the root cause.
“There are no specific diets that reduce this condition, nor is there evidence that eliminating certain foods from a child’s diet has a direct impact on the symptoms of attention disorder,” she added.
Finally, although sugar has nothing to do with hyperactivity, we should not over-consume it either, in order to avoid metabolic diseases in the future. Ideally, the diet should be adjusted to the child’s requirements and, of course, it should follow the World Health Organization´s recommendations.
Source: Esto es azúcar