When sweet becomes too sweet : Rethinking sugar habits
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Dalsie Gangmei
In many homes and schools across the world including Manipur, sweets have become woven into daily life. Birthdays mean cakes and chocolates. Good grades earn candy. A tough day is softened with something sugary. For busy parents and teachers, sweets often serve as a quick pacifier, a bargaining tool, a comfort substitute, an easy reward. The intention is care. The habit, however, deserves reflection.
Over time, these small gestures send powerful messages: sweet equals success, sugar equals appreciation, candy equals love. When every achievement, disappointment or moment of boredom is sweetened, children begin to link food with emotional regulation rather than nourishment. What starts as celebration quietly becomes conditioning. Emerging research suggests this pattern is not trivial.
The World Health Organization recommends limiting added sugar to less than six teaspoons a day. A single soft drink can easily exceed that limit. Indian dietary surveys, including the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016–18) and ICMR-NIN guidelines, show that many children exceed recommended limits for added sugar. A 2023 review in Nutrients of more than 15,000 participants found higher added-sugar intake linked to poorer cognitive performance, while large population studies connect frequent sugary drink consumption with greater risk of cognitive disorders. Neuroscience shows excessive sugar overstimulates the brain’s dopamine reward pathway, reinforcing cravings.
As brain performance coach Jim Kwik warns, repeated spikes and crashes in blood sugar can lead to “brain fog,” impairing focus, memory, and learning, skills essential for success at school. In children, high-sugar diets have also been linked to early insulin resistance, obesity risk, and dental disease. The International Diabetes Federation 2021 Diabetes Atlas shows that diabetes affects over 537 million adults globally, and the number of young people diagnosed with the condition is rising. In India, this figure reaches tens of millions of adults affected and Type 2 diabetes, once seen mostly in adults, is now increasingly diagnosed in younger age groups.
And yet, whenever the subject arises, the response is predictable: “But children really want it. Everyone else is eating sweets. We feel bad saying no.” In that moment, the adult who draws a boundary risks being labelled “unreasonable” or “overly strict” while the child wins the sympathy vote. And we don’t apply this logic anywhere else in parenting. We don’t let children cross a busy road alone because they insist, skip brushing their teeth to avoid a tantrum, or stay up all night because they are not sleepy. We step in precisely because they cannot yet see the long-term consequences of short-term pleasure. Sugar does not look as dramatic as traffic or fire. Its harm is quieter, slower, and socially normalized and that is exactly what makes it dangerous. When something becomes routine, we stop questioning it.
When everyone participates, it feels harmless. But widespread acceptance does not equal safety. The real question is not whether children want sweets. It is whether adults are willing to choose temporary discomfort over preventable long-term harm.
This is not a call for prohibition or fear. Sweets will always have a place in celebration. The question is proportion and normalization. When sugar becomes a daily pacifier and constant reward, we risk weakening the very focus, resilience and self-regulation we hope to nurture.
We can look at Sweden, a global health leader, and their tradition of Lördagsgodis, a simple, cultural rule where children enjoy candy only on Saturdays. It helps parents avoid daily nagging and giving teeth a six-day break to recover from bacteria. By turning sweets into a weekly treat instead of an everyday habit, it protects health without losing the joy of a treat.
In a State proud of its rich food traditions, moderation can be our strength. Moderation is not deprivation; it is guidance. Boundaries are not cruelty, they are care. And protecting the developing minds of our children and building lifelong regulation is a responsibility that rests, gently but firmly, with adults.
The writer is an Independent Researcher and can be reached at [email protected]
In many homes and schools across the world including Manipur, sweets have become woven into daily life. Birthdays mean cakes and chocolates. Good grades earn candy. A tough day is softened with something sugary. For busy parents and teachers, sweets often serve as a quick pacifier, a bargaining tool, a comfort substitute, an easy reward. The intention is care. The habit, however, deserves reflection.
Over time, these small gestures send powerful messages: sweet equals success, sugar equals appreciation, candy equals love. When every achievement, disappointment or moment of boredom is sweetened, children begin to link food with emotional regulation rather than nourishment. What starts as celebration quietly becomes conditioning. Emerging research suggests this pattern is not trivial.
The World Health Organization recommends limiting added sugar to less than six teaspoons a day. A single soft drink can easily exceed that limit. Indian dietary surveys, including the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016–18) and ICMR-NIN guidelines, show that many children exceed recommended limits for added sugar. A 2023 review in Nutrients of more than 15,000 participants found higher added-sugar intake linked to poorer cognitive performance, while large population studies connect frequent sugary drink consumption with greater risk of cognitive disorders. Neuroscience shows excessive sugar overstimulates the brain’s dopamine reward pathway, reinforcing cravings.
As brain performance coach Jim Kwik warns, repeated spikes and crashes in blood sugar can lead to “brain fog,” impairing focus, memory, and learning, skills essential for success at school. In children, high-sugar diets have also been linked to early insulin resistance, obesity risk, and dental disease. The International Diabetes Federation 2021 Diabetes Atlas shows that diabetes affects over 537 million adults globally, and the number of young people diagnosed with the condition is rising. In India, this figure reaches tens of millions of adults affected and Type 2 diabetes, once seen mostly in adults, is now increasingly diagnosed in younger age groups.
And yet, whenever the subject arises, the response is predictable: “But children really want it. Everyone else is eating sweets. We feel bad saying no.” In that moment, the adult who draws a boundary risks being labelled “unreasonable” or “overly strict” while the child wins the sympathy vote. And we don’t apply this logic anywhere else in parenting. We don’t let children cross a busy road alone because they insist, skip brushing their teeth to avoid a tantrum, or stay up all night because they are not sleepy. We step in precisely because they cannot yet see the long-term consequences of short-term pleasure. Sugar does not look as dramatic as traffic or fire. Its harm is quieter, slower, and socially normalized and that is exactly what makes it dangerous. When something becomes routine, we stop questioning it.
When everyone participates, it feels harmless. But widespread acceptance does not equal safety. The real question is not whether children want sweets. It is whether adults are willing to choose temporary discomfort over preventable long-term harm.
This is not a call for prohibition or fear. Sweets will always have a place in celebration. The question is proportion and normalization. When sugar becomes a daily pacifier and constant reward, we risk weakening the very focus, resilience and self-regulation we hope to nurture.
We can look at Sweden, a global health leader, and their tradition of Lördagsgodis, a simple, cultural rule where children enjoy candy only on Saturdays. It helps parents avoid daily nagging and giving teeth a six-day break to recover from bacteria. By turning sweets into a weekly treat instead of an everyday habit, it protects health without losing the joy of a treat.
In a State proud of its rich food traditions, moderation can be our strength. Moderation is not deprivation; it is guidance. Boundaries are not cruelty, they are care. And protecting the developing minds of our children and building lifelong regulation is a responsibility that rests, gently but firmly, with adults.
The writer is an Independent Researcher and can be reached at [email protected]