Sugar.
 

I've read about experiments on children eating sugary foods. I am quite sure that sugar itself does not make people overactive or "hyper".

So, if I am right (and please tell me if I am wrong), then why do people often claim to get hyper on sugar?

My personal experience is that a lot of sugar makes me tired. What does a lot of sugar do to you in the short range of time?

Btw, I think that it is some of the chemicals in food that may be able to cause overactivity, but I am not sure.

Probably a placebo-type effect. They think they will get hyper on sugar (because it is what people think happens) and so they do. I'm sure experiments have been done that show that sugar doesn't really make that much of a difference.

Oh ok, yes, the placebo effect can be very powerful.

But what about people who did not think that sugar causes hyperactivity? The placebo effect would not work if they did not know the alleged effects of sugar.

Do they become hyperactive though? Children are often told not eat too much sugar because they'll end up hyper.

Sugar can boost your energy levels, but I never thought it did so enough to cause hyperactivity.

Heavily sugary foods are often also foods with high levels of other additives - think sweets and sugary drinks. So I wonder if people have the and instead of thinking "Oh, it's E123 that's making me hyper" find it easier to think "it's really sugary - that's making me hyper"?

I find that things like doughnuts and suchlike really give me a 'sugar high' and then I crash, majorly, and get super jittery. It doesn't happen with most other stuff with sugar in it, but I guess doughnuts [the sugary ones with jam in the middle] have such a high concentration of sugar that it has an effect. It totally took me by surprise once, and not in a good way.

If I have too much sugar (and I often do as my sugar levels are inconsistent), I will get a sugar high and become incredibly hyper and then, click as a whistle, I will crash. I know this because if I drink a lot of diet coke then people will comment on my apparent alterations in mood that I haven't necessarily notice so it does have some kind of effect.

To be honest, I don't think children need a lot to make them hyper. Not giving them sweets because it will change their behaviour is just something that makes us feel like we're doing a better job of keeping children healthy and looking after them.

I've never experienced a sugar high, but I have experienced some pretty intense caffeine highs (I'm something of a caffeine addict and regularly go through several energy drinks per day when in college). It's possible that parents who let their kids drink huge amounts of Coke think it's the sugar that makes them hyperactive, when in fact it's the caffeine. I know Coke doesn't contain much caffeine, but if a young child drinks it in large enough amounts, I think it's possible.

By the way, I don't recommend drinking huge amounts of Red Bull to get through class or a long study session - yes, it'll keep you awake and alert, but more often than not it'll make you too anxious and restless to concentrate on anything.

^ I agree with that! And the same applies to ProPlus. It's not good for you!

Im pretty sure its not the sugar. My brother and i used to have these sweets called flik n licks, and he always insisted on having the blue ones, i usually got orange, and we hadnt noticed anything (we were only about 8), and mum stopped us having them because she said ben was getting really excitable, and sometimes agressive. This wasnt just with one sweet, im meaning about three a day for a week or so

Another factor is that more often than not, it's young boys who are becoming "hyperactive" - that's not a side-effect of too much sugar, it's a normal part of a boy's development. I know it happens with girls too, but in my experience young girls are merely energetic, boys are like forces of f*cking nature. With or without sugar or caffeine.

I had a packet of american sweets the other day that contain lots of additives etc and I did feel really weird and fidgety so I do think it's the additives rather than the sugar. Although when I have too much sugar it makes me always want to drink loads, and I do find my energy levels crash sometimes.

Kids are highly suggestible so even a hint that too much sugar will make them excitable is usually enough to make them hyper - (equally give a child a beer flavoured ice lolly and they will start to act "drunk")

Added to the fact that sugary foods are also associated with trips out/parties etc when kids would be naturally acting more hyper anyway.

I think supernanny did a good feature about sugar

There was an experiment on tv a while ago with supernanny and they split the children into two groups, gave one lot sugary food and one lot non sugary and their parents had to decide whether their children were hyper because theyre children or the sugar.

I think it turned out that a lot of the parents who thought their children had had sugar were wrong!

I think it was on QI a while back that when you give a child sugar, the change in behaviour isn't with the child, it's with the parent. They get all anxious and start overreacting to everything or something along those lines.

And if it was on QI it must be true.

I've often wondered just how much misinformation Stephen Fry could spread throughout the world if he put his mind to it. He could call creationism a proven scientific fact and we'd all believe him.

You make a valid point... would be interesting to do a social experiment via QI really, see how far it could really go.

i have seen it happen to my younger siblings, and my friend actually.

when we were about 13 years old, if my friend had a can of coke, she would go totally mental and end up vomiting, just like if she was drunk.

i think it affects kids more if they are not used to it, like building up a tolerance.

I haven't looked into whether or not it's proven scientifically that sugar causes hyperactivity, so I can't comment of that. Personally, I haven't ever become hyper because of sugar. But people with ADHD are known ("scientifically" or not) to be affected by sugar in this way.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 4 years old, but it wasn't sugar that made me hyper, it was certain chemicals in food (I think tartrazine was one of them).

But ever since I was 20/21 years old, I stopped getting hyperactive and distractable and I now no longer fall under the ADHD criteria at any rate.

But I know that my mum had to put me on a special diet, because if I ate any of the chemicals (and some natural foods) that I shouldn't, I would be wide awake and extremely hyperactive for 2-3 days straight.