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OK as a low to moderate carber this flies in the face of most of my current beliefs. Can someone explain this to me? is this bad science? Good science? My son doesn't really like candy but he loves greek yogurt sweetened with honey, ice cream, and dried fruit. I usually try to limit his intake because I'm concerned with cultivating a sugar loving gut biome Should I relax a little bit? It basically says there's no association with moderate sugar intake and inflammation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20075359-10391704.html

http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/5794

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specifically, high CRP or obesity. – Aughra Oct 7 at 18:30
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 I've come to the conclusion that kids in general are growing so fast, and so active that they are in a constant state of being able to use a carb refeed. – Happy Now Oct 7 at 22:06
Lol, non-consumers where fatter? So now eating candy makes you thin. How the heck does that work? – Jamie Oct 8 at 0:03
Id say that because this is statistical, they havent ruled out some confounding factors. Id want a mechanical explaination with animal studies to support it, before I brought into this. – Jamie Oct 8 at 0:10
@Happy now Carb re-feed. I didn't even think of it that way but that's hilariously on target. And maybe the more active kids crave more sugar. Anyway, it's interesting. – Aughra Oct 8 at 7:47
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4 Answers

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Interesting. This could be one of those cases where to find kids who didn't like candy, they ended up selecting for the kids who have health problems that make it unpleasant instead of evaluating the kinds who don't like candy because of their personal taste or because of their parents. If half of the kids who don't eat candy avoid it because they have terrible cavities, raging SIBO and blood sugar regulation issues, that makes the study a lot less useful.

I suspect there really is some kind of biological reason kids love sweets, and if you can indulge that with paleo foods in reasonable amounts, I don't see anything wrong with that. Remember that African hunter-gatherer study that showed that honey was one of their major sources of calories? The normal state for humans without metabolic derangement should allow for effective processing of largish amounts of carbs--even sugars.

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Perhaps the kids who arent getting candy, generally have poor parents and are eating otherwise bad food (like chips, bread and fast food) – Jamie Oct 8 at 0:08
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Children tend to be supertasters (sorry, no data to back this up--just anecdotal) and probably as a result prefer sweeter foods. I could see the advantage to this being the avoidance of toxic alkaloids more common in bitter tasting plants.

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 I think it goes back to infant-hood. Momma's milk is naturally sweet. – MathGirl72 Oct 7 at 23:04
Or more simply, that the taste receptors because un, or understimulated are hypersensitive. – Jamie Oct 8 at 0:06
Supertasters tend to avoid anything really "strong", whether bitter or sweet. Pretty sure about that. – misstenacity Dec 5 at 20:44
Conferred with resident 13-year-old supertaster (my nephew) and was told that he really likes sweet (super-sweet) and only avoids bitter. He will, in fact, OD on milk choc if given half a chance. He won't eat dark choc, though. – MiMintzer Dec 6 at 18:42
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These kinds of studies can not be taken seriously regarding their conclusions. I think we can all agree that any fruit will be better than any candy, unless you're allergic to that fruit. Yes you should relax, but regarding fruits and honey, not candies.

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haha I wasn't going to give him jolly ranchers and pixie stix. don't worry. :-) – Aughra Oct 7 at 20:15
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Yes definitely. Kids need a lot of energy to grow, and they're always jumping around and need to constantly move their bodies unlike adults. I am pretty sure that whatever sweet things that children of the old time found, was beneficial for them not bad and artificial like today's sweets. I would let your kid have all the healthy sweets they need, as long as they get their "real food" first.

As I grew, I lost the "need" for sweet foods. I don't think adults should eat a lot of sweets though unless they work out a lot.

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