The Effect of Sugar on Behavior or Cognition in Children

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners

“…Wolraich and colleagues (96) in a meta-analysis on the effect of sugar on behavior of children concluded that sugar does not affect the behavior or cognition of children, including hyperactive children and children who were "sugar reactors" based on parent perception and normal children. More recent reviews have also stated that sugar does not affect behavior or cognition in children with or without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (97).…”

“…Several researchers have concluded (96,104,105) that parental expectations and perception are major confounders in many short-and long-term studies of the effect of sugars on behavior of children. Clinicians should use caution when restricting the diet of children who have ADHD even though many parents believe diet affects their child's behavior (104).…”

Psychopharmacological and Other Treatments in Preschool Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Current Evidence and Practice

“…A related dietary strategy, simple elimination of sugar or candy, has not garnered convincing scientific support from repeated placebo-controlled acute challenge studies (Ferguson et al 1986;Krummel et al 1996;Wender and Solanto 1991;Wolraich et al 1995) despite a few encouraging reports (Goldman et al 1986). Even a well-controlled 3-week trial of a sugar-restricted diet found no effect (Wolraich et al1994).…”

ADHD in Children and Adolescents: A Good Practice Guidance

“…Most of these dietary manipulations involve eliminating additives (Feingold diet) and foods incriminated to increase hyperactivity, such as sugar, chocolate and caffeine or common food allergens such as wheat, milk and eggs. Several double-blind placebo-controlled studies have failed to support beneficial effect of dietary manipulation on the behaviour, except possibly in a very small percentage of children (Egger et al, 1992;Wolraich et al, 1995). Few studies have reported behavioural improvement with hypoallergenic diets (Kaplan et al, 1989;Egger et al, 1992;Boris et al, 1994).…”