Is sugar affecting childrens health?
Pediatricians are concerned that too much sugar is in their young patients’ diets, Kavey says. But again, sugar by itself is not the problem, she says, but rather the excess pounds. “The reason that we think of it as a problem is because of the big rise in obesity in childhood, and that rise has occurred over the same time period that there’s been a major increase in the amount of simple sugar that children consume,” Kavey says. Juices, sodas, sweetened cereals, cookies, and candy are common sources of sugar in children’s diets. But other factors — like spending a lot of sedentary time with computers rather than running around and playing — may also contribute to childhood obesity. What about the notion that sugar makes some children hyperactive? “In my own experience, I know there are some children who are very sensitive to sugar. They really are quite wild after they have sugar,” Kavey says. “But that’s not proof.
