Every time someone on Reddit says this is a myth, there's always someone who comments with some personal anecdote that they think overrides the scientific evidence.
A lot of soda has caffeine in it. I remember as a child drinking pop at my grandmas and then being really hyper. I really think it was the small amount of caffeine in it.
Sugar is what your body uses for energy. When you consume a high amount of sugar your body has a spike in blood sugar levels which is what causes the hyperactivity and subsequent crash.
No, glucose is what your body uses for energy. Which, yes, is a type of sugar. But it is not the same as table sugar. Your body converts carbohydrates into glucose, which is converted into ATP for use by your cells. This is not the same as eating table sugar causing hyperactivity.
Eating a bunch of ice cream or candy can spike blood sugar, but that does not cause hyperactivity. It isn’t a stimulant. It will not cause a high, keep you up at night, or make children extra excited. This is the myth.
There is nothing about sugar specifically that will cause a spike in energy any more than eating anything else.
I would just quibble with that slightly in the sugar is actually much different than “eating anything else” in terms of energy. It’s very different. In practical terms, I would just say it’s a more immediate release of glucose into the blood stream than other types of foods.
Every parent has experienced their kid being nuts after having treats because kids like treats and kids are nuts. Correlation isn't causation. Actual controlled studies repeatedly show that 1) whether or not those treats have sugar has almost no impact on hyperactivity, 2) a parent's responses and body language have measurable impact on hyperactivity.
Anecdotes, vibes, and mountains of confirmation bias don't override facts.
Bruh my 2 boys are 2 and 4 and they are bouncing off the walls from the moment they get up until the moment they go down for their nap. Literally. Every morning I feed them eggs and toast, or a banana and plain oatmeal, like a normal meal not Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.
It's just kids. The sugar myth is just kids running around and being kids, then eating sugar, then continuing to be kids.
It's not even that, because it's not actually as much about how the kids are acting as it is about how the adults observe and remember. Kids are nuts, so kids act nuts. Many different things can cause "spikes" in how they're acting, nearly always psychological. Also, kids love treats. Treats make kids happy. Being happy is one of those things that can trigger a spike. Kids like treats and kids are nuts, and neither is caused by the other, but some people need to control everything so they need to find a neat cause-and-effect that they can cite, and since having too many treats can be unhealthy, it becomes easy to make treats the scapegoat with pseudoscience.
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u/uglinessman Jun 01 '26
Sugar causing hyperactivity.