A child's diet plays a big part in keeping them not only healthy and happy but also alive. Certain foods can play a role in a child’s behavior and emotions. Sugar, something most children love, has a big role in a child's emotional and physical health. Sugar has been proven to cause devastating effects on a person's body especially as they mature.
You may wonder, “How much is too much?” when the words “large amounts” are written in this article. More often than not, an average adult consumes around twenty-two teaspoons of added sugar, which refers to any added sugar product to beverages or foods (“Added Sugar”, 2019). Quantities of added sugar above four tablespoons are unhealthy for children, and adults eating sugary products daily can lead to health complications.
Consuming high quantities of sugar can cause inflammation in the muscles, joints, and brain. Researchers found that sugar creates free fatty acids in the liver, and when digested, it can release chemical compounds that trigger the inflammatory process. The cells in your hippocampus, an area of your brain responsible for memory storage and organization, as well as connecting senses and emotions to those memories, can become inflamed. When any part of the hippocampus is damaged, your ability to retain memories and to make new long-term memories is hampered (“Effect of Dietary Sugar”, May 12, 2018). If the damage is left unchecked, it could lead to major health complications, such as arthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis, blindness, cancer, and diabetes (Shaw, 2019). Eating high levels of sugar may satisfy your addictive craving as well as release dopamine, but it leads to major mood swings among extensive brain and body damage that will affect you increasingly as you age.
Large amounts of sugar can also decrease psychological well-being and cognitive functioning in a child's brain, including major memory issues. A research study conducted at the University of Southern California found a negative correlation between memory and sugary drinks. These refined drinks containing high levels of carbohydrates when ingested in large quantities cause metabolic disturbances. In the article, “How Sugar Affects A Child's Brain”, states that “Increased sugar intake interferes with the ability of the brain to function normally, or even remember little details about one’s environment in the event that it’s consumed in large quantities before adulthood” (2015). This addictive substance is fed to children as early as when they are born, and they only increase in consumption as they get older, leading to many memory and brain damage issues.
In the midst of the diseases and complications that arise from sugar consumption, its addictive nature does not contribute to the amount of sugar consumed in a day, whether it is consciously or unconsciously being consumed. Similar to drugs, sugar inundates the brain with dopamine, a feel-good and buoyant chemical (the same chemical that floods your brain after having a successful event, or after working out), which impedes normal brain function. In the same article, “How Sugar Affects A Child's Brain”, the author discloses, “A study conducted at Yale University found that simple sight of a milkshake activated the same reward centers of the brain as cocaine does with addicts. In fact, another study conducted in 2007 found that study subjects (rats) preferred sugar water to cocaine.”(How Sugar Affects A Child's Brain, December 21, 2015) Cocaine is an illegal and highly addictive drug in the United States, but sugar products have been proven to cause many extremely harmful diseases and are just as addictive despite being incorporated into almost all the foods you eat on a daily basis from dried fruit, cereal, salad dressing, ketchup, protein bars, and granola.
Even with the similar addictive properties between sugar and cocaine, they are inherently different in the means of stimulation. In the article, “Sugar Is Addictive? BS, These Health Pros Say”, Anna Medaris Miller states, “The research shows, among other key differences, that while similar neural pathways are involved in both drug and sugar consumption, the brain changes that lead to needing more and more cocaine to get the same high aren't seen with sugar” (2018). The more one consumes the sugar, the more they will want more of it, resulting in a gradual increase in the amount of sugar consumed, similar to increasing the amount of cocaine consumed to get the same “high” feeling. Although there is virtually no way to create the same ‘high’ feeling one gets from a drug like cocaine, creating a similar feeling, a ‘sugar high’ off of ingesting large amounts of sugar in one sitting can create a similar hyperactive state. Refined (processed) sugars and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly; therefore, causing rapid changes in blood sugar levels. This rapid change creates hyperactivity and unsteady emotions. If enough sugar is ingested this will make a child become more ungrounded and similarly cause a ‘sugar high’. Because of the fast fluctuation in blood sugar levels, and the newly created ‘emotional rollercoaster’ the child is going to go through, the parent will find it hard to control the guardian causing the label of ‘acting out’ to be put on the child.
Studies may conclude that hyperactivity is a result of increased sugar intake, despite the controversy of this claim. In the article, “Hyperactivity and Sugar”, the author writes, “ Refined sugars and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly. Therefore, they cause rapid changes in blood sugar levels.”(Hyperactivity and Sugar) This rapid spike in blood sugar levels causes an increase in dopamine levels, which results in a sudden burst of energy and sudden happiness. However, this also puts the person up for a mood swing and energy crash, which can result in moody and lazy behavior, or even aggression. Especially in little children who don't yet have the power to control themselves or their behavior, consequences of sugar intake create problems that will then create more issues, such as emotional issues and physical/mental issues with their family, friends, and themselves as they grow older.
Although a mother's intuition can see that their child may not be mentally stable after the intake of the deadly, and addictive substance is ingested and has infested the bloodstream, to cause all types of problems, physical, emotional, and mental, now and later in their life. Keeping steady well-being is important for the child's emotional health, keeping them mentally healthy and always keeping them on the right path. Eating little to no added sugar will allow us to lead healthier lifestyles, physically, and emotionally, which overall can create a society that functions to its fullest capacity.
Citations:
“Added sugar in the diet”, The Nutrition Source, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, January 02, 2019, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet /
“How sugar affects a child's brain”, Arizona OB-GYN Affiliates, December 21, 2015, http://www.aoafamily.com/blog/how-sugar-affects-a-childs-brain/
“Hyperactivity and sugar”, Medlineplus medical encyclopedia, April 22, 2021, https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002426.htm
Miller, A. M. “Sugar is addictive? Bs, these Health Pros say”, U.S. News and World Report, November 16, 2018, https://health.usnews.com/wellness/food/articles/2018-11-16/sugar-is-addictive-bs-these-health-pros-say