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Title: WHY did you steal the cookie from the cookie jar? due 11/22/11
Category: Nutrition
Description: biological explanation for kids' sugar cravings
I'll admit it, I have a horrible sweet tooth.  We just finished learning about carbohydrates and there could be a biological explanation for my sweet tooth.  After listening to this clip on NPR, I wondered why my "sweet tooth" never shut down like it did in the studies.  I still love sugar-maybe not more than that in a can of soda, but I can't ever get enough chocolate!  I have known that our tastes change as we grow up because I used to HATE tomatoes and now I love them.  It is intriguing to me that hormones play such a large role in that change.  Please listen (or read) the segment below and respond to the questions to let me know what you think about this.

Kids' Sugar Cravings Might Be Biological



According to the study, what is the explanation for children craving sugar?  What is the problem in today's society that children evolutionarily crave sugar or high calorie foods?  Why does sugar have such a hold on children?  Do you still crave sugar and how much do you think you consume?  How are pesky hormones controlling your actions and your tastes and helping you maintain homeostasis?


Add Comment



Comment Posted by: Elizabeth C at 08:13:19 PM on 12/13/2011


The reason kids crave sugar is because they are born to like sugar and they have a different taste buds. The problem in today's society that children evolve to is that adults eat sugar and high calorie foods more than they use to so that their children probably get use to that when they grow. Sugar has a hold on children because it actually makes the feel better. I know I still love sugary stuff but I don't eat it on everything like I use to. I think I consume about a tablespoon a day. Hormones make it so that you want sugar so that u can increase your metabolism to keep up with your growing bones.

Comment Posted by: Elizabeth Caparulo at 07:25:38 PM on 12/06/2011


Children crave sugar because it is part of their biology. They crave it right from the time they are born. The problem in today's society is that adults eat sugary and high calorie foods alot more than they use to. This makes children adapt to the extra amout of sugar and then they crave it more. Sugar has a hold on children because it makes them feel better when they consume it. I still love sugary foods and I will eat them but I don't need to have sugar on alot of things that I use to. I believe I consume about one tablespoon of sugar. Hormones control actions and taste buds to make sure your blood has enough sugar in it and when it needs more then your body will crave it.

Comment Posted by: Storm E at 10:15:04 AM on 11/29/2011



---- Original Message ----
Sugar!!!!!! its a killer. Sugar is so frigin Addictive to so many people because once its in your body your stuck on it like glue.The problem in todays society is theres to much junk food to eat and the factories put so much in the food these days. sugar sugar Im loving it.

Comment Posted by: Jacob N at 10:07:49 AM on 11/29/2011


I think that kids these days are going to eat what tastes good and not whats healthy. So people get caught up on taste and not whats good for them!  

Comment Posted by: Zackori B at 10:56:23 AM on 11/28/2011



---- Original Message ----
i think that kids eat way to much surger. there alot of kids that have obesode in are country and its not there folt its copines like micdonel, and bergking folt.

Comment Posted by: Samantha R at 04:26:31 PM on 11/25/2011


I didn't even know we had a new blog? 

According to the study, children crave sugar because biology of a child taste things differently. Sugar doesn't just taste good to children it is a natural pain reliever in babies. I sometimes crave sugar like in chocolate, but it really isn't all that appealing to me. The sugar is prefered by kids that are still growing rapidly. The sugar gives energy needed for growth. Now in today's society, we are trying to control sugar intake by children due to obesity. 


Comment Posted by: Matthew C at 09:06:12 AM on 11/22/2011


A reason for this may be that a preference for sweet, caloric substances during rapid growth may have given children as an evolutionary advantage when calories were scarce. Now according to recent studies made by scientists, they are realizing that kids are in a modern world of calorie overload and childhood obesity, which means that cravings for sugar are no longer the evolutionary advantage there once might have once been. 

Comment Posted by: Carly M at 01:58:08 AM on 11/22/2011


Sugar cravings in young children have been tested to show that the sugar helps them grow.  But something they weren't asking nor answering in the story was: is this a positive growing or a negative growing?  Positive growing as in developing muscles and the brain or negative growing which is most likely going hand in hand with the rise of obesisty in children today.  i personally love chocolate more than any other sweet, but there is a point where I have had too much, so maybe I'm done growing?..


 


Comment Posted by: Trinity H at 04:03:27 PM on 11/21/2011


kids bodys are still growing so they crave more stuff. obesity is the problem with kids craving sweets. sugar has such a hold on children because it makes them feel good. yes i still crave sugar and it is about 2 table spoons a day

Comment Posted by: Erin M at 11:47:28 AM on 11/19/2011


 The explanation for kids craving sugar is that it's biological and that they prefer more intense sweetness than an adult. Children's hormones from growing bones are mostly the ones that are telling them that they need the sugar. Sugar is also a natural pain reliever in children, so they give it to babies during procedures to lessen the pain. I personally do still crave a lot of sugar, mostly soda, chocolate, starbursts, little debbie cakes (mostly from my dad!), and sometimes even eating regular sugar by itself. I definitely consume more than I actually should!

Comment Posted by: Mike S at 10:34:51 AM on 11/18/2011



---- Original Message ----
The article talks about how kids brains are hardwired from birth till about the age of 15 or 16 to naturally go for the sweet stuff. It also tells how kids cant reall be blamed because their bones secreate a hormone that tells the body to eat sugary stuff. i personally think that is a load of garbage because kids should be able to conterol themselves. P.S. i stole the cookie from the cookie jar because it looked good and i was hungry!!

Comment Posted by: Cody L. at 08:29:12 AM on 11/18/2011


Children crave sugar because they need the sugar do to hormones. In today's society, children consume to much sugar, and they gain more calories than their body's can use, which becomes stored fat. I personally still like sugar, but I have noticed that I do not want to eat it as much anymore.

Comment Posted by: Paul N at 06:19:05 PM on 11/16/2011


The study says that children crave sugar from day one because they use sugar as a pain reliever. The problem in today's society is that children are eating more and more high-calorie snacks causing them to be more obese. Sugar has a hold on kids because they use sugar as sort of like a drug, they eat sugar and feel better because it releases hormones. Yes i do have quite the sweet tooth and I consume about 4 oreo cookies a day.

Comment Posted by: Darnell B at 11:59:32 AM on 11/16/2011


according to this article and the study of kids. It's not the kids themselves who crave the sugar, but yet its the "growing bones actually secrete hormones that can influence metabolism." says researcher Sue Codwell. As for young teens under the age of 15-16 love sugar due to the bone hormone growth and the hormones secreting the hormones to tell the brain that it needs "E." And sense that sugar is an easy way to get the "E" also known as a carbohydrate. sense sugar effects teens adults and kids many people have different tolerances on what amount of sugar they can handle. Quite frankly Hormones influence metabolism, allowing peoples tolerance to be a biological issue causing the pandemic of obesity, diabetes, and many other social,mental,and physical disabilities. 

Comment Posted by: Anthony N at 08:08:13 PM on 11/14/2011


According to the study, children crave sugar because they are rapidly growing, and hormones influence their strong love of sugar.
This is a problem today because many companies use the love of sugar to influence children to want their product, and children can't get enough of the sugar, and the children don't need the sugar. I don't know if I still crave sugar because I play sports or because deep down, I'm still a child. My pesky hormones infuence my actions by sending me to get seconds at dessert,Image Detail (Oreo Tower!!)                                                                                                       

Comment Posted by: Elysia R at 05:29:46 PM on 11/14/2011


The study says that children crave sugar because while they are still growing and while growing the bone can release horomones to make them crave that sugary sweetness. Personally I do still crave sugar, my honest opinion is that chocolate can fix absolutely anything. The study kind of backs my opinion up because they believe sugar can be a pain reducer, but they didnt really specify whether it was just physical or if it also helped emotional pain as well. I remember when I was younger I used to always want more and more sugary things like fudge rounds and chocolately ice cream, brownies...etc. Its different now, I crave it of course but not as often as I used to. And also when I crave it now, its a much stronger craving, like if I want it then I really need it now not later, when I was little it was just I want it all the time but I didnt really care when I got it.

Comment Posted by: Haley B at 08:21:33 PM on 11/13/2011


 I believe that children crave sugar because in the npr article it stated that kids crave sugar because it makes them feel good. From day one kids have been craving sugar to take away pain. I believe it started when the baby was first born and when they needed medical attention like ii said in the reading that doctors would give them "sweet-tasting liquid" to get ride of the pain. I think its a true fact when they say that when teens go trough pruberty there taste buds change. Many of us teens don't like sweets like we used too. I personal don still crave sugar like I used to, I will admit I do crave it every once in a while, but it's not a daily thing I have to have.
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