Sugar High! Or A Big, Fat Lie? Are Sugar Rushes A Fact Or A Myth? Find Out

You’ve broken the cardinal rule. No sugary treats for your junior after 6 pm. Yet, in a moment of absent-mindedness, you allowed her two giant scoops of ice cream (topped with candy shavings) at her friend’s birthday party. Now, all you can do is to watch in dread, as your well-behaved little Cinderella morphs into an ultrasonic, bouncing, skipping, hyperactive mass of unbridled energy.

As if on clockwork, five minutes later, she has gone bat crazy. Worse yet, she’s only one among 30 sugar-fuelled kids who, as a unit, are threatening to destroy peace for the next few minutes.

Sugar. You blame it all on that sweet culprit. But, are sugar rushes even real? No matter how scientifically well the world has progressed, this one aspect remains in dispute. There are some who shoot this down as a myth and then, there are those who are waiting with a supposedly ‘bagful of evidence’ to argue it is indeed for real. The bag that never shows up!

Mere Imagination

You’ve seen sugar rush episodes play out right in front of your eyes. So, you’d be excused for assuming that sugar rushes have a solid scientific basis, when, in fact, they don’t. How can so many parents get it wrong? Well, the human mind is a powerful tool… of deception, at times! Take for example a study (the most conclusive one till date, on the topic) in the Journal for Abnormal Child Psychology (1994).

The study featured 35 boys (five to seven years of age), who were branded ‘behaviourally sensitive to sugar’ by their mothers. Some of these mothers were told their sons had been given a large dose of sugar when, in fact, they’d been given placebos. Mothers were then filmed interacting with their sons and "mothers in the sugar expectancy condition rated their children as significantly hyperactive". Now, isn't this a classic case of expectation clouding judgement?

Here is what the experts have to say

The misconception could be down to the fact that when children, who otherwise have restricted access to sugary treats, are given sweets, it triggers the release of endorphins which makes them happy… not hyperactive! Most parents believe in the existence of sugar rushes because sweet treats are usually reserved for special occasions when children are excited anyway! When parents jog their memory to think of what triggered off a particular hyperactive behaviour, the most convenient answer is sugar. That said, while excess refined sugar consumption may not cause highs, it certainly contributes to the cranky ‘sugar crashes’ that follow.

- Dr Meenakshi K, Paediatrician

There is no such thing as a sugar rush in nutrition science. Parents think it is real because the idea is already formed in their heads. Why doesn’t a child behave the same way every time he consumes sugar - why is this kind of behaviour heightened in the evenings (as most parents believe)? If there is high after-sugar consumption, it is likely because of various other factors that parents are turning a blind eye to.

- Sheela Krishnaswamy, Consultant Nutritionist

I’d say parents are so sold to the concept of sugar rushes that even their kids have caught on to the drama. Many children - including my own - like to pretend they’re on a sugar high, merely as an excuse to behave in a silly manner, running around like wild animals and shrieking at the top of their lungs! But, we parents notice that almost every time children consume cola drinks, they get hyperactive. Well, this is because of the caffeine and not sugar. If not caffeine, artificial food colourings are likely to be the culprit. I’d say the real after-effect of sugar is that it makes us parents worry unnecessarily!

- Shwetha Mani, Nutrition Expert

Sugar rushes are all hype. Of course, if a child is already hyperactive, giving him sugar makes the situation worse. But, there is no medical proof of such a phenomenon. Rather, it would be a good idea to reduce the amount of refined sugar given to children.

- Dharini Krishnan, Nutritionist

DON’T ‘RUSH’ OUT OF THE DEBATE

Just because the scientific community hasn’t found any concrete evidence yet, there is no ruling out the concept of sugar rushes either, believe some experts. And they could be right. The connection between food and behaviour was established way back in 1973 by allergist Benjamin Feingold, who formulated the Feingold Diet, free of salicylates, food colourings and artificial flavouring, as a means to treat hyperactivity. Even though this diet didn’t eliminate sugar, it brought a certain amount of focus to the positive and negative effects of refined sugar.

Dr David Ludwig, Professor of Paediatrics, Harvard Medical School, recently insisted that sugar rushes are not a myth. In an interview given to the Los Angeles Times, Dr Ludwig said, ‘Ingestion of a high-glycemic carbohydrate causes children's blood sugar levels to rise quickly and then fall. This results in a rapid increase in energy followed by a rapid slump.’

SELECTIVE SUGAR RUSH?

According to noted paediatrician William Sears, ‘the behaviour, learning ability and attention span of sugar-sensitive adults and children tend to deteriorate when they eat large amounts of junk sugars.’

Dr Meenakshi adds, “Some people are more sugar-sensitive than others; even adults. This could be why different children from the same family react so differently when they consume the same quantity of sugary foods. Some children become a little hyper; the others might be completely unaffected.”

We tried finding out the sweet truth but in vain. The world remains divided on the subject. Even as we continue debating, one thing’s for sure. Sugar rush or not, it only takes a good smile, to get your child happy and excited. Nothing is ‘sweeter’ for a parent.