RE: Cecils’ definitive edict: “there is no such thing as Sugar High”
As they say on the courts: “IN YOUR FACE !”
The anecedotal observations of millions of parents, aunts, uncles and children care takers, can not be overruled by a single laboratory study in which only 31 children consumed a single, sugary drink. While sugar may not, necessarily, be the culprit to the wild behavior of children at parties it CAN NOT dissmissed either. Otherwise Gatorade and the makers of sports drinks have perpetuated the greatest hoax of all time: sugar drinks improve athelethetic perfomance.
Children at parties (like adults) seldom, if ever, consume a single drink. Multiple drinks (of anykind) compound the effects. Children left unchecked will consume enough multiple servings of soda, cake, cookies, ice cream , cotton candy , etc , to actually puke ( A condition sports atheletes try to avoid… -more on this later)
While sugar may or may not be mistakingly blamed for partying childrens wild behaviors … popular soft drinks also contain CAFFIENE : A drug with KNOWN physiological responses one of which includes increased activity. So maybe sugar is getting a bad rap… BUT THE EFFECTS ARE UNDISPUTABLE!
Atheletes drink “sugar water” because it has rapidly absorbable calories from which to derrive energy for performance. Water alone, does not contain any carbohydrates so water alone is not able to produce energy (except for hydro electric and fissdion -applications not applicable to this discussion). Sure, there is some psychological belief that performance will improve as well as rehydration and the replacement of lost electrolytes and personal taste preference instead of water …But mostly it comes down to 13 -15 grams of sugar carboydrates per 16 0z of water producing energy to burn.
Blood sugar levels “spike” (markedly rise) within 20 minutes of food consumption for normal people. Diabetics ( persons lacking insulin to break down sugars) as well as hypoglycemics ( persons with low blood sugar because their body is rapidly processing it) are even more susceptable to their bodies reactions to blood sugar levels. Diabetics can be high for lack of insulin and hypo glycemics can “go into shock” from not having enough sugar. Certainly children’s
metabolic systems are highly sensitive.
31 children are enough to make any kind of declaration???
HAH, I bet there are more kids with ADHD/diabetes/and hypoglycemia AND phenelketunia per million population then just 31.
The difference between alcohol and soda pop is the particular sugar involved and how it is or isn;t broken down by the body. SUGARs ARE ultimately involved with intoxication As well.
Finally, the trouble with scientists is that they reproduce asexually and spend way too much time in the lab and are unaware of normal life. If I didn’t have a diabetic mom, wasn’t an emergency medical technician with “low blood sugar” , and have never witnessed otherwise normal children suddlenly develop spiderman ability to actually climb walls at parties… I wouldn’t bother to taunt you you as being wrong on this issue.
I’m guessing this is in response to an upcoming article by Uncle Cece, since nothing is turning up on search. Can someone who gets the emailed articles post a link, please?
As to the OP: Rational discussion of such matters rarely includes the sort of approach you have adopted. Perhaps you’d care to restate your position in a more, shall we say, coherent and cogent manner? With citations to reputable evidence, would be nice.
Maybe it’s isn’t accurate to call it a “sugar high”… But Insulin IS normally produced as a reaction to elevated blood sugar levels. Although, certain diabetics experience a condition called “insulin high” as a result of having too much insulin in their blood system.
Perhaps, if it were possible to restrain a kid, hopped up on typical sugar laced party food, long enough to actually draw blood without lacerating any arteries (And NO, it isn’t possible due to their extraordinary inability to remain still - in the throes of sugar high until the insulin fully kicks in and then they crash AFTER the sugar rush… Another phenomena known to parents )
But if it were possible to take a blood sample maybe one could doccument simultaneuos, unusually high levels of insulin. And “insulin high” is definitely a high!
But I think there are at least 5 factors involved with kids wild party behaviors:
A. caffine in the soda, food coloring dyes, other chemical reactions
B. massive amounts of sugar carbohydrates producing high levels of energy (like atheletes drinking gatorade)
C. The production of high insulin levels further messing up brain function
D. The endorphines caused by running (the same as runners high)
D. social / pyschological aspects involved with “group play” further compounded by the freeing of inihibitions of the drug caffine, the body chemicals insulin, the endorphines being
produced while simply enjoying a fun activity of socialization with other kids while also NOT being monitored by parents i.e unsupervised.
To say that this sugar high behavior doesn’t exist Is ludicris
And demonstrates that the questioner has never had much interaction with children.
Crispin
Entertainer
Disc Jockey
Emergency Medical Technician
Response to an upcoming article??? Like Gene Autry said : All I know is what I read in the papers. On Wednesday February 13 in the Honolulu weekly, in hisnationally syndicated collumn… in response to 2 questions asking" “wheter or not sugar high really exists”…Mr Cecil offered his prononcement: “that it doesn’t”… except that maybe kids with ADHD, might, get effected from having sugary foods at parties.
What do you mean “insulin high is definitely a high?” As an insulin-dependent diabetic for 27 years, I’d like to know just what you’re talking about. If you mean hypoglycemia reactions from too much insulin are akin to hyperactivity in children, speaking as someone who has had scores of them over the years, you are incorrect.
Also, as an insulin dependent diabetic, I’m wondering where having too much insulin in my system, or as** Una** put it - hypoglycemic - is a pleasant sensation. Drop by here and we can try it some time, tell me how much fun you have, ok?
Anecdotal observations are meaningless, whether they are made by one person or millions. Millions of people held forth on the truth of the anecdotal observation that the sun revolved around the earth.
Gatorade and other sports drinks work, simplified, because they replace salts lost through perspiration. The sugar is there solely because the earliest versions were too foul-tasting to drink. The first commercially marketed Gatorade didn’t have sugar at all but cyclamate. Gatorade has never said, to my knowledge, that sugar drinks can improve athletic performance. Or athelethetic either.
Without being able to read Cecil’s column or look up the study referenced, I can’t say anything about its validity. True, 31 people is too small to generalize to the entire population, but few studies that size are designed for such a purpose and even Cecil, not the densest element in the periodic table, understands that.
There’s no point in going individually through the other 7 points Crispin makes, but #3 is too hysterical not to quote:
So the effects are indisputable, sorry, undisputable, no matter that they don’t come from sugar but from a completely different chemical that’s not in all sugar products… but that makes no difference to his point!
Beautiful. A work of art. Four stars, three methyl groups, two turtle doves, and a Razzie for worst dramatic performance.
The latest Discover Magazine has a byline indicating that there is evidence that food coloring additives in sweet drinks and snacks are making kids more excitable, not sugar.
“Hmmmmm… that’s strange. I just read about a study that says sugar isn’t supposed to cause hyperactivity.” -Mr. Van Driessen
justcrispin, I don’t think point #1 in your OP is particularly relevant, since Gatorade and similar drinks are more than just sugar—it’s supposed to replace electrolytes that get sweated out during exercise. But other than that, I suspect you may have a good point or two.
I do think it was remiss of Cecil not to mention caffeine, which often also appears in the “swig of soda” that’s apparently making junior hyper.
First, as Cecil stated, there were 23 different rigorous studies that were conducted between 1982 and 1994.
Second, the anecdotal observartions of millions of people for over a thousand years was that the world was flat until proven otherwise.
Thrid, I have personal experience with my brother expecting that his daughter will go crazy when consuming sugar. Twenty minutes are eating some cake icing and, to my eye, no discernable difference in her bahaviour, he was saying “SEE! I told you how crazy she gets when eating sugar!”
I agree with both 2 and 3, that there are often caffiene laden drinks and candy(Chocolate) readily available at parties for kids. I’m not sure which effects Crispin is saying are UNDISPUTABLE but I’ve seen the effects of caffiene of kids and it aint pretty.
So, the replenished water to alleviate dehyradtion and elecrolytes that prevent cramping are only psychological? Tell that to my body after I’ve been playing in a 4 on 4 basketball tournament outside in 95 degree heat in Atlanta in July for a few hours. Also, why then do trainers give football players “salt tablets” instead of “sugar tablets” when they are cramping if the electrolytes are unimportant
Are you a specialist when it comes to the sensitivity of children’s metabolic system? :dubious:
That’s why Cecil mentioned the 23 studies between 1982 and 1994 using double blind techniques, etc. :smack:
What does alcohol have to do with what Cecil was saying?
I don’t have a diabetic mom, I’m not an EMT with “low blood sugar” and I have witnessed otherwise normal children (my own) develop spiderman skills(it’s really cool) after being surrounded by other kids acting in inappropriate ways and not consumed sugar laden food or drinks.
Anecdotal evidence: I have reactive hypoglycemia, and when I enter a hypoglycemic state it is certainly not a high. However, if I inadvertantly do eat sugar or white flour bread or anything else with a high glycemic index, I definitely experience a high, followed by the low blood sugar crash hell of hypoglycemia. This high does not make me hyperactive etc, rather I just feel pretty darn good and kinda distracted. Until, of course, I start shaking and feeling nauseated and pretty sure I’m gonna die (at least I feel like I’m gonna die).
