I think we all get that excessive consumption of sugar may result in later problems with Type II diabetes, pancreas problems, whatever.
Is there a direct link between excessive (almost exclusive) sugar consumption and behavioral disorders among the young?
The answer is “no” with a “but” or “yes” with an “maybe”.
This has been highly debated and heavily researched.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/88/5/960
Although the children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity were significantly more aggressive than the control subjects, there were no significant effects of sugar or either placebo on the aggressive behavior of either group. However, inattention, as measured by a continuous performance task, increased only in the attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity group following sugar, but not saccharin or aspartame. This result is of questionable clinical significance inasmuch as aggressive behavior was unchanged. The finding may be due to the combination of the sugar challenge with a high-carbohydrate breakfast.
*Habitual sugar consumption and behavior following challenge by sugar and aspartame were studied in 30 preschool boys. The 18 subjects whose parents considered them sugar reactive had more disruptive behavior problems at baseline than the other 12 subjects. Habitual sugar consumption correlated only with duration of aggression against property in alleged responders. Double-blind crossover challenges with aspartame, saccharin, sucrose, and glucose produced no significant effect on aggression or observers’ ratings of behavior. Lower actometer counts followed the trials of aspartame, but the difference was not apparent to observers. It is unlikely that sugar and aspartame are clinically significant causes of disruptive behavior. *
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/10/1815
*esults. There was a J-shaped dose–response relationship between soft drink consumption and mental distress, conduct problems, and total mental health difficulties score; that is, adolescents who did not consume soft drinks had higher scores (indicating worse symptoms) than those who consumed soft drinks at moderate levels but lower scores than those with high consumption levels. The relationship was linear for hyperactivity. In a logistic regression model, the association between soft drink consumption and mental health problems remained significant after adjustment for behavioral, social, and food-related variables. The highest adjusted odds ratios were observed for conduct problems among boys and girls who consumed 4 or more glasses of sugar-containing soft drinks per day.
Conclusions. High consumption levels of sugar-containing soft drinks were associated with mental health problems among adolescents even after adjustment for possible confounders.*
On review,what Blake said.
Thanks for the responses. I have a teen relative about whose future I am concerned…
(“whom’s”?)