Truth or myth?: Revisiting some popular misconceptions

JWR ^ | 5-11-05 | John Stossel

[FlyLow]

1. True or false: If you give a kid sugar, he'll get hyper.

2. True or false: Eat sugar, and your energy may slump.

3. True or false: It's a good idea to drink eight glasses of plain water every day.

With so many myths in our lives, perhaps the surprise is that one of these familiar theories is actually true.

Parents say the first one all the time: Sugar makes kids wild and crazy. Even some kids say it. "I go really nuts when I have candy," one girl told ABC News. Another told us it affects her so strongly that she'll change her behavior, "like sometimes I'm like oh, my G-d, I'll clean my room." Oh, my G-d, indeed.

Not that it's limited to the young. One woman told us, "You can have like one candy bar and be off-the-wall."

But the idea that sugar causes hyperactivity is a myth. "The research is very clear," said Cathy Nonas, a dietician at New York's North General Hospital. "Sugar does not make a child 'hyperactive.'"

Many studies back her up. In one, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, some kids ate sugared foods while others got foods with artificial sweeteners.

Their parents and the researchers didn't know who was eating sugar and who wasn't. The researchers monitored the kids for things like irritability and hyperactivity. They found no difference.

"There is no such thing as a 'sugar high,'" Nonas said. "And there is no such thing, as 'sugar making you nuts.' There just isn't."

[HowardDeanScream08]

Yep, though drinking a lot of water is certainly not bad for you. As long as it's not Evian.

[muawiyah]

Doesn't matter if it's sugar or mashed potatoes ~ all same thing.

[Homer1]

anybody that thinks sugar doesn't get kids hyped up hasn't been to a kid's birthday party.

[Red Badger]

I don't care what the research says. When my kid was a kid (she's grown now) a candy bar or other sugar source would make her absolutely bounce off the walls..........

[Red Badger]

Mashed potatoes = starch = carbohydrate = sugar.........

[agere_contra]

Was the research paid for by Tate & Lyle, by any chance?

[kx9088]

It's a birthday party, kids are going to get excited wether or not they have sugar.

But on the other hand, I think for most people when you have enough sugar, it will effect you.

[agere_contra]

Denatured disaccharides do not have the same food effect as, for instance, mashed potatoes.

Try eating just sugar for a week: your body's immune system would collapse. Mashed potatoes on the other hand - you could live off them for a long time if you had to.

[polymuser]

Strongly disagree. I've chaperoned school field trips and watched the behavior change after the junk in their lunch bags is consumed. I've watched them after their Valentine's Day or Halloween goodies are eaten. And, the primary sweetener for decades (coincidental with the rise in ADD/ADHD, by the way) is corn syrup, a seed product (not sugar - read the labels). Then, go search: ADHD food, and see what you find. Corn product/sweetener is in everything these days (baby formula, cereals, snacks, soda, juice-boxes, candy, baked goods, cooking oil). Do you suppose little, growing bodies might possibly react to being saturated daily by a particular seed food? But, I'm sure the Corn Growers Association can prove otherwise.

[loborojo]

I agree. When my son has something with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, he goes bananas.

[Red Badger]

.....your body's immune system would collapse.

Then why do hospitals put people on IV's with sugar water?........(or do they?).........

[Phsstpok]

As long as it's not Evian.

Next time you see someone drinking Evian find a mirror and hold the bottle's label up to it so that they can read the name properly.

[raybbr]

Mashed potatoes = starch = carbohydrate = sugar.........

I don't care what the research says. When my kid was a kid (she's grown now) a candy bar or other sugar source would make her absolutely bounce off the walls..........

Did the mashed potatoes make her bounce off the walls, too?

[gogogodzilla]

The kid is hyper because he's at a party, not because of the food.

Try holding a kid's birthday party at a pizza place, with a birthday pizza. You'll find that the kids act JUST as hyper.

[Red Badger]

She didn't like mashed potatoes for some reason. She thought they tasted like paste..........How she knew what paste tasted like I don't want to know.......

[freebird5850]

Mashed potatoes = starch = carbohydrate = sugar.....
Meatloaf and some gravy = naptime for me!

[polymuser]

But, I'm sure the Corn Growers Association can prove otherwise.

I forgot to include drug companies. Need to keep those school medicine cabinets full of Ritalin-LA, Adderall-XR, Concerta, Metadate-CD, Strattera, Focalin, Atomoxetine, Modafinil. Hey, it's a $1B/year business drugging those kids.

[Proud_texan]

Just a thought but certainly most soft drinks have a pretty good jolt (for a kid anyway) of caffeine and to a lesser degree some chocolate products.

Might in some cases it's the caffeine rather than the sugar (although I haven't a clue on the latter, everything made my kids hyper).

[LIConFem]

"Did you know that if you stew cranberries like applesauce, it tastes much more like prunes than rhubarb does?"

-- Groucho Marx ;o)