If anything sugar has a dulling or numbing effect and in large amounts can make people sleepy. My friend told me to take my son off a lot of foods. The Feingold diet for hyperkinetic children is based on removing all foods with sugar , preservatives, color dyes and salicylates from a child's diet. Specific foods are omitted. As psychologists, educators and parents have become more aware of hyperactivity, more children have become screened for this disorder.
Symptoms are over activity, distractibility, restlessness and short attention span.
Hyperactive children have more problems with their behavior especially relevant, goal directed, appropriate behaviors. It was Feingold's theory that children are born with an inherited predisposition toward hyperactivity, which is triggered by certain food substances. Feingold based his 1973 studies in San Francisco with hyperactive children on a diet free of salicylates, artificial food colors and artificial flavors. Naturally occurring salicylates in apples, apricots, cherries, currants, grapes, raisins, nectarines, oranges and peaches that were once banned have been found to contain little or no salicylates. Feingold himself considers the artificial colors and flavors to be the most toxic substances to hyperactive children.