SubEx

Sweetener

Added Sugar (Sucrose / HFCS)

Sucrose and corn syrup added during manufacturing. The hyperactive-child effect was tested across 23 trials and never turned up.

Findings
2
Best evidence
★★★
Open questions
1

At a glance

Myth check

Sugar makes children hyperactive (the 'sugar rush').

A meta-analysis of 23 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (1,414 children) found no significant effect of sugar intake on children's behavior, attention, or cognitive performance across 14 measures tested.

The belief is a well-documented parental-expectancy effect — parents who believe a child had sugar rate them as more hyperactive regardless of what was actually consumed — not a real dietary effect.

The findingsStrongest first
1↕
Metabolic & weightSwitching to diet drinks takes off 0.73kg and nothing more

Fourteen trials put the loss at 0.73kg and 0.72% of body fat. Over years, diet drinks carried much the same raised risk of diabetes, heart disease and death.

★★★Well replicated — this finding’s sources average out to meta-analyses, systematic reviews or high-powered trials.The short trials and the long follow-ups measure different things, weight on one side and disease on the other, so neither one checks the other. The long-term half only watched what people already drank, and people already at higher risk switching to diet drinks would produce the same pattern. This is a joint position from the Korean Diabetes Association and Korean Nutrition Society rather than a new analysis.Click to keep this openSupport heart and blood flow
2↑
Metabolic & weightEach extra daily soda tracked with more heart disease, diet ones too

Across 34 studies, each extra daily serving tracked with 9% more heart disease for sugary soda and 8% for diet. These follow what people already chose to drink.

★☆☆Contested — the evidence disagrees with itself, or the finding carries a caution. A caution or conflict always shows one star, however strong the sources are.CautionBoth pools followed what people already chose to drink, so these are links rather than proof that either drink causes anything. Someone told to watch their weight or blood sugar tends to switch to diet, which would draw this same pattern with no effect from the drink at all. The pooled studies varied widely in their results for several of these outcomes. And these are drink categories, not Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero specifically.Click to keep this openSupport heart and blood flow
Sources3 behind this page

What we don't know

1 open question