What - no sugar for Christmas?
by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson

Well, why shouldn't the kids have something sweet? After all, it's Christmas! Well, yes - it is - and if they did not have so many sweet things for the rest of the year it probably wouldn't matter - but, they do.

And what is wrong with that? It's only sugar, after all. It's not as though it was one of those E numbers. Well, sadly, that is not the whole story.

Most people have met a hyperactive child - usually a boy - defiant, tousled, bouncing off the walls, picking up and putting down everything in sight, noisy, disruptive. Well, yes, additives and E numbers can do that to a child - but so can sugar.

Sugar, quite apart from having a disastrous effect on the state of childrens' teeth and adding to the growing obesity problem by filling them full of fattening but 'nutritionally empty' calories, can have a much more insidious effect both on their health and their behaviour.

An alarmingly high number of children, especially those with eczema, asthma, runny noses and ear problems - not to mention those with slightly dodgy digestions - may have what is called a leaky gut or unbalanced gut flora. A leaky gut is when the wall of the intestine is, literally, leaky and allows all kinds of semi digested food proteins through into the blood stream. Unbalanced gut flora is when the natural balance between the millions of 'good' bugs and 'bad' bugs in the digestive system has been upset, often by long periods on antibiotics, which have destroyed not only the offending 'bad' bugs but the surrounding population of 'good' bugs as well. In either case there is a good chance that digestion is not taking place properly and that semi digested food is getting stuck in the gut where it may well ferment. If that is the case, the worst thing that your child could be eating is sugar since, as anyone knows who has tried brewing their own beer, the one thing which speeds up fermentation is sugar. And fermentation in a leaky gut means not only that the child will probably have digestive problems, but that partially fermented proteins make their way into the blood stream and cause all kind of other problems around the body.

But too much sugar does not only affect the digestion. Most people will have heard of the brain chemicals serotonin and beta endorphins. They are the ones which affect peoples' moods, causing depression and a whole range of other psychological ills. Well, many doctors now believe that there is a direct link between glucose (what pure white sugar breaks down into in our bodies) and these brain chemicals. Both of these chemicals are critical to mood and how one sees oneself - both in children and in adults. But the normal biochemical 'pathways' of both can be disrupted in some people by an excess of pure sugar - or of refined carbohydrates (products made mainly from refined white flour) which convert very quickly and easily into pure sugar in the body. And when this happens you get a moody, unmanageable and disruptive child who makes not only everyone's life a misery but his or her own.

Really neat proof that this theory is true is the number of schools who have started to ban vending machines selling sugar laden sweets and drinks and replacing them with break time fresh fruits and water or fruit juices - and who have found that attention rates improve and that disruptive children become far calmer as a result.

And replacing - or at least reducing - sugar need not be that difficult. Rather like salt, our palates have become accustomed to very high levels of sugar but can tolerate a gradual reduction surprisingly well. Reducing the sugar added to tea, cereals and homemade cakes or desserts by half a teaspoonful a week will scarcely be noticed, but over a couple of months would make an amazing difference to overall consumption.

And there are dozens of naturally sweet sugar substitutes which would do your children infinitely more good than those sugar laden cakes, biscuits, sweets and drinks. Most children love raisins - and what about the wide range of other dried fruits, nearly all of which now come in soft and delectable forms? Apricots, prunes, sultanas, dates, mangos, blueberries, cherries - even figs. They are all are to be found on supermarket shelves.

Another alternative for sweetening, as a spread and as the basis for a drink (dilute with fizzy water so that it gets nearer to a commercial fizzy drink) are fruit concentrates which you can buy in most supermarkets. Again, lots of flavour and lots more nutrition and less pure sugar than in a commercially made fizzy drink. Not to mention the additives.

And how about using some of those dried fruits - as well as fresh fruits - for baking ? Christmas is the ideal time to experiment with some different combinations and since most children are not too keen on fruit cake, I have appended a chocolate cake recipe made with prunes which has always been a great success.

And if you do need to use sugar, try swopping to muscovado sugar - ideally a dark muscovado sugar. It has lots more taste and at least some, if not much, nutritional value.
It is surprising how quickly their palates will adapt and they will begin to find the over sweetened commercial products just too sweet.

And remember - every time you think that you are being 'cruel' to your child by 'depriving' him or her of that fizzy drink or that packet of sweets - moody, disruptive, hyperactive children are unhappy children. They are always in trouble, they do not make friends easily, they often feel unwell. Not only will your child be healthier on a greatly reduced sugar diet - but he or she will be happier too.