ADHD child and sugar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. I have all the same questions for my child recently diagnosed with ADHD, not yet medicated. Keeping sweets in the house leads to trouble because of sneaking. I often won't realize that treats were snuck until there's a behaviour outburst and then later I'll find some muffin wrappers and put the connection together. We do try to keep the treats we do have around fairly high quality, meaning homemade muffins with reduced sugar and whole grain flour instead of hostess, for instance, or 75% dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

I'm still unsure if the cravings happen on days when she's disregulated anyway, like an attempt to self medicate, or if the sugar causes the disregulation afterwards. Does that make sense? There's a huge correlation, but I'm unsure of the order of cause and effect, if any.

What research have you read?

Sugar doesn't cause behavior issues. There is zero evidence that it does, though it was a widely spread falsehood a decade or more ago.
Too much refined sugar is, of course, nutritionally void and a trigger of systemic disease. But consuming it does not cause behavior problems like hyperactivity.

OP here. Sugar causing behavior issues isn't at all where I was going.

For my DS, sugar appears to be an attempt on his part to self-regulate/medicate. Sure, he might have a sugar crash but that's not a behavior issue for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wow. I have all the same questions for my child recently diagnosed with ADHD, not yet medicated. Keeping sweets in the house leads to trouble because of sneaking. I often won't realize that treats were snuck until there's a behaviour outburst and then later I'll find some muffin wrappers and put the connection together. We do try to keep the treats we do have around fairly high quality, meaning homemade muffins with reduced sugar and whole grain flour instead of hostess, for instance, or 75% dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

I'm still unsure if the cravings happen on days when she's disregulated anyway, like an attempt to self medicate, or if the sugar causes the disregulation afterwards. Does that make sense? There's a huge correlation, but I'm unsure of the order of cause and effect, if any.

What research have you read?

Sugar doesn't cause behavior issues. There is zero evidence that it does, though it was a widely spread falsehood a decade or more ago.
Too much refined sugar is, of course, nutritionally void and a trigger of systemic disease. But consuming it does not cause behavior problems like hyperactivity.

Then what is the take away from observing hyperactive/disregulated/frantic behavior and then learning that there was a lot of sugar consumed shortly beforehand?

Correlation is not equal to causation.
Your child is more likely to help themselves to the cake while they are having low dopamine/serotonin and poor impulse control. But that doesn't mean the cake sugar caused the behavior.

[Anonymous]

My ADHD child self regulates sweets and high carb food much better than my other two without ADHD, and my DH with ADHD regulates better than I do (no ADHD). Neither is on medication, both very slender, like sweets (especially chocolate) but when they feel full, stop eating even when there is only one bite of chocolate cake left on their plates.

And there are multiple studies showing that hyperactivity after sugar in children is just due to bias in perception. Parents told that their child had eaten sweets rated their children as being hyperactive even when their children had not actually been given sweets.

If you have studies which have been published in reputable journals showing differently, do share the links. My ADHD child is 8% on weight and 60% for height, so I’m not limiting diet at all right now, as pediatrician told us to make sure they get enough calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD child self regulates sweets and high carb food much better than my other two without ADHD, and my DH with ADHD regulates better than I do (no ADHD). Neither is on medication, both very slender, like sweets (especially chocolate) but when they feel full, stop eating even when there is only one bite of chocolate cake left on their plates.

And there are multiple studies showing that hyperactivity after sugar in children is just due to bias in perception. Parents told that their child had eaten sweets rated their children as being hyperactive even when their children had not actually been given sweets.

If you have studies which have been published in reputable journals showing differently, do share the links. My ADHD child is 8% on weight and 60% for height, so I’m not limiting diet at all right now, as pediatrician told us to make sure they get enough calories.

I'm exactly not sure which direction you are heading with your comments but here is a study that appears to be reputable. This isn't a viewpoint that I am necessarily going by myself but it's an interesting conclusion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3598008/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD child self regulates sweets and high carb food much better than my other two without ADHD, and my DH with ADHD regulates better than I do (no ADHD). Neither is on medication, both very slender, like sweets (especially chocolate) but when they feel full, stop eating even when there is only one bite of chocolate cake left on their plates.

And there are multiple studies showing that hyperactivity after sugar in children is just due to bias in perception. Parents told that their child had eaten sweets rated their children as being hyperactive even when their children had not actually been given sweets.

If you have studies which have been published in reputable journals showing differently, do share the links. My ADHD child is 8% on weight and 60% for height, so I’m not limiting diet at all right now, as pediatrician told us to make sure they get enough calories.

I'm exactly not sure which direction you are heading with your comments but here is a study that appears to be reputable. This isn't a viewpoint that I am necessarily going by myself but it's an interesting conclusion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3598008/

Before even reading this study, the obvious clue here is in the conflict of interest statement:

Richard J. Johnson, MD and Takuji Ishimoto, MD have a patent application on inhibition of fructokinase as a mechanism to treat sugar craving. Richard J. Johnson is the author of The Sugar Fix (Rodale and Simon and Schuster, 2008 and 2009).

[Anonymous]

How old is your child? Depends on age, in my opinion.

--mom of ADHD 16 year old who just bought himself a slurpy

[Anonymous]

Oh wow, I never knew this. My adhd kid also craves sugar and can also down a six pack of coke or a sleeve of thin mints in record time, if left to her own devices. Sometimes, I’m at a loss for what kinds of snacks to keep in the house that would be better for her. We have Greek yogurt, which she’ll eat sometimes, lots of fruit and lately, she’s been eating sweet peppers.

[Anonymous]

This product might help some of your households https://www.thekitchensafe.com/

[Anonymous]

PP again. Take out some treats for the day. Set the timer to open again the next day. Repeat. Repeat.