Does HFCS make kids more “hyper” than other types of sugars do?
When it comes to the effects of sweeteners on children’s behavior, there will always be a chasm between what’s reported in clinical trials and what’s reported at a 6-year-old’s birthday party. “Ask any parent at that party, and they’ll tell you the kids are bouncing off the walls from all the sugar in the soda, cake and candy,” says Keith Ayoob, Ed.D., R.D., a pediatric nutritionist and an associate professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. “But the reality is that they’re 6-year-olds at a party. It’s situational, not due to the sweets.” Among the dozens of studies over the past few decades that have looked at the effects of sugars, Ayoob says, none have been able to show that sugar of any kind causes or aggravates behavior problems, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The idea that HFCS affects kids differently than table sugar hasn’t been studied but it’s not likely, he says, “since [the sweeteners’] chemical compositions are v
