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Half of UK kids 'addicted to sugar'

05/09/2007

Almost half of British schoolchildren have constant sugar cravings, a large-scale study into the dietary habits of UK youngsters has shown.

Of the 10,000 kids aged between six and 16 quizzed by today's survey, Food for the Brain, 45 per cent were revealed to be addicted to sugar.

The research – sponsored by food firm Organix – claims to have underlined a "significant association" between children's food intake, their behaviour, academic performance and health.

But it states that it has also uncovered the "shocking state" of diet and mental health among schoolchildren, with one in three said to be suffering from diet-related attention and concentration problems, mood swings or tantrums.

The survey says that the average child receives just one serving of green vegetables per week, compared to 3.5 servings of food laden with sugar a day.

It claims that children who eat fried food and takeaway food cooked in hot fats are three times more likely to be badly behaved than kids with better diets; which were directly linked to better SAT scores.

Patrick Holford, head of the study and director of Food for the Brain, said that diets of nuts, seeds, dark green leafy vegetables, oily fish and water best translated into improved academic performance.

"The brain is 60 per cent fat," the visiting professor of mental health and nutrition at the University of Teesside said. "Children who eat good fats from raw nuts, seeds and oily fish, double their chances of high academic performance.

"Children who eat damaged fats, in fried food and takeaways, are twice as badly behaved, as well as performing badly at school. In a sense these fats make your brain thicker, less responsive, and they appear to make children thicker too.

"Many children in our survey are like jetfighters – they refuel on the move going from one sugary food or drink to another. The association between high sugar intake and bad behaviour is very strong."