Hi Kim,

This is a very common misconception which goes back many years and was popularized by Dr. Feingold, who developed a special diet that is supposed to eliminate problematic behaviors in children.

There is no research that supports the idea that sugar causes hyperactivity. However, there are a few children who apparently are sensitive to certain food additives or coloring (but the figures are only about 1-3%), so if your child appears to react negatively to certain foods, you might want to discuss with his doctor the idea of eliminating those which might be causing him trouble.

But in terms of sugar in general, no...they have not found this to be a cause of hyperactivity.

As a personal aside, I find that eating foods heavily laden with sugar actually makes me sleepy!