Read more: "Don't swallow it: Six health myths you should ignore"
Every parent has seen it happen: take a group of young children, add sugar, then stand back and watch them bounce off the walls. But although many parents will find it hard to believe, sugar does not cause hyperactivity.
A 1996 review of 12 blinded studies, where no one at the time knew which kids had received sugar and which a placebo, found no evidence to support this notion. This is true even for children with ADHD or whose parents consider them to be sensitive to sugar (Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, vol 36, p 31)
In fact, one of these studies concluded that the sugar effect is all in parents' minds. Parents and their 5 to 7-year-old "sugar-sensitive" children were split into two groups. The parents of one group were told their children had ...
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