When I was a kid my parents used to hold back on the sugary drinks and the sugar filled candy because they said it would make me hyper. I believed this my entire life, up until I researched it for this blog post. It turns out, that there have been many studies performed that prove that this myth isn't true.
According to one study by Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll from the Indiana University School of Medicine the reason for this myth is all in the minds of the parents. When they are told that the child has been given sugar, they believe the child seems more hyperactive, however the child isn't given anything with sugar. This proves that its only in the mind of the parents.
Because the parents react differently to the children having sugar, the children start to believe it effects them. Like the many things parents pass onto their kids, this is one of them. This is known as a placebo effect, when because you believe something is happening, you act like it is. So because kids think the sugar they are eating is making them hyper, they act more hyper then they would have without the sugar. Although sugar may not cause kids to become hyperactive, it's still not good to have sugar often. High levels of bad sugar can cause obesity, tooth decay, and many more health problems. So it is still important to control the amount of sugar given to children.
Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2008/12/medical_journal_says_sugar_does_not_make_kids_hyper.html
http://www.misconceptionjunction.com/index.php/2011/04/sugar-doesnt-make-kids-hyper/
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This is a really interesting post because all of my life I too was told that sugar would make kids hyper, and my parents also restricted how much sugar I consumed. To find out that this is not actually true is very cool.
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