Sugar and the 'legend' of hyperactivity in children

The belief that sugar is the cause of hyperactivity in children can be traced back to the 1970s, when Californian paediatrician Benjamin Feingold proposed that food additives and sugar could influence behaviour in children. Since then, this idea has become popular among many parents and gained ground in the media and popular culture. Yet, there is not a single scientific study attesting to the veracity of this theory, as reported in a well-documented article in the scientific journal 'The Conversation'.

And while it is true that all studies agree that the ideal consumption of sugar in children should not exceed 10 per cent of the total energy requirement in order to prevent certain diseases, it is also true that the link between sugar and hyperactivity in children is just an urban legend.

In particular, excess sugar is detrimental to children's physical and cognitive development, as Dr. Amy Reichelt, a nutritional neuroscientist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, points out in the article. She cited 'neuroimaging' studies showing that children who eat a diet rich in highly sugary packaged foods show a reduction in volume in certain brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex functions such as planning, reasoning and emotion regulation.

So, paradoxically, a far more serious risk than 'simple' hyperactivity or difficulty concentrating. "It is no coincidence that the WHO recommends reducing the amount of energy intake from free sugars, i.e. sugars added to food during processing or naturally present in foods such as honey or fruit juices, to less than 10%. The methods used in Feingold's studies were flawed because they did not include proper control conditions, unlike more recent studies with groups of children kept on placebo, which have ruled out a link between sugar consumption, hyperactivity and attention deficit in children. So, what is the reason for the 'euphoric effect' empirically found in some children after eating sweets? Probably - again, there is no certain proof - dopamine. The brain releases this neurotransmitter when it expects and obtains a reward. Therefore, if 'sugar' is seen by children as a form of reward, obtaining it could have a stimulating effect, increasing activity and movement. The same phenomenon would probably be achieved with other forms of 'reward', even those that are not ingestible, such as games or fun activities to do together.