Think Food Doesn’t Affect Behavior? You’ve Got to Read This.

This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.

Are food and behavior connected? Some say that’s nonsense, that food has nothing to do with behavior.

Others say that there is a clear connection. What does the evidence show?

angry boy for post about food and behavior

Food and behavior is a big topic these days.  Folks are talking about gluten-free diets, paleo diets, candida diets, and more.

Does it all matter?  Does food affect things like autism, ADD, ADHD and just plain old defiance?

So many behavioral issues can be traced to gut health. We need to all inform and empower parents to make a difference in their children’s (and their own) lives.}

It’s common to joke about kids being on a sugar high after a party, so all of us know, on some level, that food influences how kids behave.

But how many of us realize the extent to which our children’s day-to-day actions are shaped and molded by the foods we feed them?

Want to Save This Post?

Enter your email & I'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get healthy living updates too.

Save Recipe

Food and Behavior

An experiment on the effects of food on behavior done by the British TV series, The Food Hospital, produced shocking results. Party food loaded with sugar, artificial coloring, and other additives have the power to turn your lovely, cooperative child into a badly behaved, physically aggressive youngster.

Before we get to the study, let’s talk about some of the WORST things that you (and your kids) can eat.

Three Food Ingredients that Might Affect Behavior Negatively

1. Artificial Coloring

There’s evidence both for and against artificial food coloring causing behavioral issues in children.

More and more evidence is pointing to artificial food dyes as a major cause of ADHD in children. While this hasn’t been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, the facts are strong enough to convince many European countries to ban blue 1 (brilliant blue), blue 2 (indigo carmine), yellow 5 (tartrazine), and yellow 6 (sunset yellow) among others.

These food colors have FDA approval and are found in cereal, candy, and a variety of colorful foods popular with children.

2. Sugar

There is a shocking amount of sugar in processed foods – and some of it is lurking in places you wouldn’t suspect. One 12 oz. can of coke has 9 ½ teaspoons of sugar. The same amount of Tropicana Farmstand Juice has 9 teaspoons. There’s also lots of sugar in flavored yogurts and chocolate milk – not so surprising. But did you know that there is often sugar in savory foods, such as ketchup, bread, sausages, and barbeque sauce? Your child can consume a considerable amount of sugar even before you let him or her eat candy, and high sugar levels contribute to hyperactivity.

3. Sodium benzoate

Sodium benzoate is a preservative found in carbonated beverages and fruit juices, condiments, candies and many other products. It has been implicated either separately or together with artificial colorings for causing or aggravating ADHD symptoms, and is best avoided.

It has also been noted that sodium benzoate reacts with citric acid to make benzene. So be very very careful with any foods or personal care products that have both ingredients together!

Read labels.

A real-food, nutrient-dense paleo diet – which excludes these three substances as well as anything likely to affect behavior – seems to be the best way to ensure your kids get the right nutrition.

How Does This Affect Your Family

You may think that these problems don’t affect you since your child doesn’t suffer from serious behavioral problems or learning disabilities. Remember, the children in the video were just a regular group of school kids–not children selected because they didn’t behave well. The impact on them was profound, so clearly, this is a concern for every parent.

Let’s do all we can to set our kids up for success.

The Food and Behavior Experiment

Children in Britain aged 5 – 9 attended a party.

They were split into two groups:

Group One: was fed healthy options such as apple slices, carrot sticks, sandwiches, hummus, etc. and was given water to drink.

Group Two: received the usual party fair: candy, potato chips, and soda (or as they say in the UK, sweets, crisps, and fizzy pop), all containing loads of sugar, artificial coloring, and other additives.

The children’s ability to follow instructions, concentrate and remember information was then measured as they played party games, and their actions were carefully recorded.

You may be surprised by what they found.

The results are shown in this simple chart:

Food Behavior Table

It wasn’t only how they behaved that was remarkably different.

The healthy food group did “48% better in the games overall” – that’s a huge improvement in performance.

Now, of course, there are a lot of factors associated with the foods served at this party, but it’s an interesting experiment nonetheless.

And I’m sure you have noticed that you feel better after eating healthier food–so it only makes sense that your kids would as well.

And when you feel better, you act better.

Are We Setting Our Kids (and Ourselves) Up for Failure?

After watching the segments that you can see below, I couldn’t help think that many kids are inadvertently being set up for failure by their own parents. Moms and Dads certainly intend to do the best for their children, and part of this can mean feeding them “regular food” that won’t set their children apart from their friends.

But in doing so, our children are being sabotaged in ways that make it difficult for them to perform school tasks successfully.

They’re fed processed foods that can make them aggressive and difficult to control. Then, as if that weren’t bad enough, they’re penalized for their inability to learn and their out-of-control behavior.

We all know that a child who is constantly hitting other children, having tantrums, and running around wildly is a child who is continually reprimanded. We also all know a child who doesn’t follow teachers’ instructions, can’t remember what he or she was taught yesterday, or can’t concentrate long enough to finish a task receives poor grades and negative feedback.

No parent wants this for his or her child.

Tragically, in the worst cases, kids who are simply reacting to what they are being fed end up taking unnecessary prescription drugs or are sent to special schools.

Helping Kids Succeed with Good Nutrition

How do we feed children to prepare them to succeed in school and get along in society? Generally speaking, the more natural a food is, the less likely it is to cause a severe behavioral reaction. Keep in mind that there are plenty of individual differences in how children react to specific foods and additives.

One family might discover that avoiding a certain additive transforms their child into a little angel, while in another family cutting out wheat may do wonders.

That said, watch out in particular for the Three Substances I list below, which are often linked with behavioral problems.

Watch the following video to see what happened to these two groups of kids — and be thinking about how we might be setting our kids up for either failure or success, based on what we are feeding them.

angry child with title saying does food affect behavior?

The Experiment on Video

After the initial publication of this post, the videos of the experiment were removed from The Food Hospital’s website. Following is what is now available.

Watch as parents and a psychologist evaluate behavior during play and learning tasks.

The coordinators divided up the groups, what they ate, and how things started to play out.

Full Experiment

I can’t embed this video here but you can go to this link and watch it.

It’s split up into parts. The time stamps for the experiment are:

From 9:22 – 13:27 and

from 25:28 – 31:55.

Here’s a small part of the experiment as well.

**Note:  The woman, when stating that they “don’t know” what made the difference, mentions “E numbers.” From Wikipedia, this is what she is referring to: “E numbers are codes for chemicals which can be used as food additives for use within the European Union and Switzerland (the “E” stands for “Europe”).They are commonly found on food labels throughout the European Union. Safety assessment and approval are the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority”

Study Conclusion

Those who ran the study say that they don’t know what it is in the party food that affects the children. Is it the sugar? The artificial coloring? Maybe the lack of essential nutrients? It’s not clear.

I suspect it’s a combination, with individual children being more affected by different things.

What is clear is that children not only behave better but concentrate better, follow instructions better, and remember more when they eat healthier food.

Let’s not forget that concentration, following instructions, and memory are fundamental building blocks of the learning process and vital for success at school.

(UPDATE:  Think the evidence isn’t compelling enough?

Check out the follow up post to this one at Response to Doubters–STILL Think Food Doesn’t Affect Behavior?  Read This.)

Have you noticed (or suspected) foods affect behavior in your house?
What has YOUR experience been?

Ruth Almon of Paleo Diet Basics

Ruth is a big fan of the paleo diet, having regained her health after decades of living with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

423 Comments

  1. Thank you for this article regarding sugar and behavior. My 3 year old boy is normally very easy but can be a holy terror; kicking, tantrums, yelling, crying… Almost always, I trace it to food. I check out daycare’s lunch that day, ask his teacher their am/pm snacks, and see if my parents gave him a treat if they picked him up. It’s hidden sugar; high fructose corn syrup, etc. that gets us, and sugar in completely inappropriate foods, like tomato soup, milk, bread and ketchup for instance. I know many articles and official studies do not find evidence of sugar and behavior, but I will testify before a grand jury that sugar matters. We make homemade bread without sugar, drink whole milk, and get food with the lowest possible sugar possible. However, his daycare provider said it’s state law they give children skim milk, which contains sugar. Maybe if parents and teachers keep making noise our food will get healthier!

    1. I say, “testify” :). We need to get the word out about this. Skim milk has added sugar? Are you sure it’s not the sugar that’s naturally in milk? Thanks so much!

  2. We LOVE this kind of information & would encourage parents to pay very close attention! “Move more! Eat less! Milk is for babies! Fowl is foul! Pork is for Porkers! Sugar is poison! If it isn’t organically grown, the suicide is included at the checkout!” ~mikewondoctrine~

    1. Hi there. Well, I didn’t mean this as a vegan statement, but I do have some concerns about milk and pork. As for sugar I am with you!

  3. Growing up in the mid 70’s my younger sister was placed on The Feingold Diet which eliminated all preservatives, additives and coloring (ex: BHT/BHA) from food for ADHD. Believe it or not, sugar was not one of the forbidden ingredients. In fact, without all the other additives, it wasn’t associated with causing hyperactivity. My sister consumed sugar on a regular basis in moderation and never had outbursts of hyperactivity. However, it was always apparent when she did deviate from the Feingold Diet because it was as if she was on speed. If I was not a witness to how evident this diet works I may be skeptical but it worked from the time she was a toddler thru her adolescent years. She is 40 years old now and and far more healthy because of the healthier diet she ate. She no longer needs the Feingold Diet but continues to make healthier choices. I only wish my mother insisted that I do the Feingold Diet growing up as well but at the time it was costly. I do make these choices for my family now.

    1. That’s fascinating. I am dealing w/ having to re evaluate my oldest’s diet. And my own. He is having recurring issues now and it’s hard. Clearly this all matters. Thank you!

  4. I read a blog about a year ago stating that some schools are banning children bringing their own lunches/snacks to school. so the children are forced to eat what the school provided for them. The only way they would be allowed to bring lunch was if they had a doctors note stating they had a specific food allergy. Has anyone else heard this?

  5. Hi! I am doing a research paper on this topic. I am looking for feedback on more sources and other studies that have been done on this. If anyone can help that would be great!-Hannah

  6. Correlation does not imply causation, even in cases like this.

    It’s entirely possible that the kids’ actions are a result of the social contexts of the food, rather than the physical properties of the food. By which I mean, the kids may act differently because they have been taught (however subconsciously) that you act differently in a place where there are healthy snacks than a place where there is cake.

    Also, I feel that one incident of bad behaviour tends to lead to another, so it makes sense that there would be numerous more incidents, instead of just a few more.

    And of course, there’s the issue that an experiment consisting of one party with one group of kids (however big) does not a study make.

    As an aside, I don’t have any feelings one way or the other about whether food makes kids misbehave. I’ve heard about studies which have disproved the notion, but I haven’t read or followed up on them myself so I don’t put much stock in them. I’m just saying, I don’t put any stock in this, either.

    1. Hi there. Since you didn’t give a real email address I know you won’t get my reply, but here goes anyway.

      Of course correlation doesn’t imply causation but I think that the hypotheses that you put forth are much less likely to be the case than the actual junk in the food causing the behavior issues.

      I think of it like this very simple analogy. If you put sludge in a car’s engine, it won’t work well. We put “sludge” in our own “engines” and yet we still expect them to run well. It doesn’t make any sense. We treat our kids like they are garbage disposals and then wonder why they don’t behave well.

      I don’t really understand how or why a child would be taught even subconsciously to behave differently when there is a healthy snack. If anything I think they would behave worse – as in they would complain and refuse to eat the food and be sullen.

      Neither I nor the author of this post said it was a scientific peer-reviewed study. But I think it is a very clear demonstration of what happens when you feed “non food” to kids.

      Thanks and somehow I do hope to see you around again and am open to hearing your reply.

      1. It’s a real email address. 🙂 Gmail allows you to add a plus sign and then more text to your email address to help with sorting. So, I can ensure emails from this forum posting make it into my inbox, but also I can tell if spammers start picking up my address from here (and then block the address if necessary). Basically it helps me keep my inbox clean and get the stuff I need.

        I didn’t mean to put forth a hypothesis that I support, so much as a plausible alternative explanation which demonstrates that plausible alternative explanations exist. There are plenty of reasons for things to be correlated that may seem to imply causation, but have another explanation behind them.

        I should mention that I follow a diet of whole foods and I completely agree that we put too much “sludge” in our systems even when trying to eat well – never mind those who don’t, including myself as a kid. I’m not disagreeing with you there. And there’s plenty of evidence to support the benefits of whole foods. I read a study once which tied childhood drinking of skim milk to later obesity, and whole milk to healthier weight ranges in adulthood, and I think the same principle behind that is likely to apply here.

        Kids from higher socioeconomic classes are far more likely to eat whole foods than kids from lower income bracket families. As well, kids from these higher ‘classes’ seem to misbehave less in general. That’s something I wouldn’t call causation at all – I think parents in higher income brackets have more time to spend with their kids, and are more likely to do research on good parenting. Those are the same parents who can afford the preparation time and costs of high quality, whole, organic foods.

        Now, I understand that doesn’t explain a mixed group of kids eating cake vs. carrots…

        Although here’s another consideration: Caloric density. Sugar content aside, cakes and cookies have a far higher caloric density. Research on healthy adults adding 1000 extra calories to their diets (not higher sugar, just higher calories overall) showed that adults of a healthy weight compensate in various ways and at various levels for the extra calories consumed; some to the point of overcompensating for the calories. This was not achieved via exercise (exercise was measured), but via other actions like fidgeting, which added up more throughout the day when participants ate more – it’s an unconscious/subconscious process. So it stands to reason that simply eating more calories could give kids more pent-up energy, and that it has nothing to do with the sugar content or artificial colours and flavours in food.

        It’s entirely possible that the artificial elements in the junk food, which may make foods more addictive (since that’s what they’re designed to do, after all), caused the children to ingest more calories, which in turn gave them more energy, which they did not have enough of an outlet for, so it came out in other ways. But I don’t think that’s the same thing as saying “artificial colours cause misbehaviour” because if it is the case, and you force-fed your kid a bucketful of carrots or honey or whole grain bread, you’d get exactly the same result.

        I’d be interested to see a real study done with more controls in place.

        In summary: I simply think there are multiple explanations for the results of this experiment.

        I came to this article because of its title, which implied that I would be given some real data to convince me that food type affects behaviour in children. I like reading studies and finding out about new discoveries in science, and I was hoping this would help solidify my beliefs in the value of whole foods. Instead I was disappointed to discover that a cause I believe in is being supported by useless data. It’s like if I read an article titled “Proof You Need to Vaccinate Your Kids” and the whole article described an experiment where unvaccinated kids and vaccinated kids attended a party and one group misbehaved. Sure, you could draw conclusions from it if you wanted… but there’s WAY better data out there.

  7. This is so interesting. It’s funny, when I go to Safeway, I feel like it’s mostly filled with poison! I wonder how gluten fares compared to these three evil “foods.” Thanks!

  8. Just in case this ever helps anyone I’m going to say it:
    I wonder in the test above that some of the major offenders are not listed. This is my experience – and only upon massive research online did I become aware of ingredients being ingested even in so called ‘health food’ brands.

    I’ve noticed dramatic differences (in myself) and an elderly person i know when they eat any Annatto, Carrageenan, and MSG (see all the names MSG is hidden under like ‘flavorings’ of any sort, protein of any sort (ie soy, vegetable, etc), and the term ‘Spices’ without reference to what those spices ARE in parenthesis on the nutritional label. I can tell right away when they’ve been ‘out to eat’ or at a cookout, over at friends, etc.
    Verbal ticks, tourrette’s type stuff, verbally repeating words / outbursts, singing nonsense, moodiness, sitting there shaking the head ‘no’ like a monkey back and forth for no reason (see Annatto below for what I believe was the culprit mostly in sharp orange cheddar cheese in our case)….. it’s all brain swelling caused by these poisons. Thanks for the heads up on Sodium Benzoate – I think that is in the rolls I bought at Sam’s Club….. the price got me. Now I’m making bread for them. This ‘disorder’ has been going on for many years in this person & if i tell them it’s ingredients they balk, but the results are there. I got to see the person’s reaction when the wife was cooking and now the difference when I’ve been able to replace everything with products without Annatto, Carrageenan, and MSG (still working on the MSG – lots of hidden names and ‘health food’ stores are as bad as grocery stores for all three offending ingredients so don’t get lulled into false safety shopping there. I have a well known brand of natural chicken broth and it has MSG in there hiding. Not sure if there exists an MSG free chicken broth, will have to do some research online on MSG forums – go to the people who live with this to find out the truth of products that are safe!)

    Annatto is mainly in ‘orange’ food and creates head banging in children – you should see the long list of posts on one website where mothers realize they’ve been poisoning their kids & a simple change gets rid of the ‘behavior’. Annatto is not only in orange dairy foods like cheese and yogurt (by the way it’s fall season so in those pumpkin (orange) products – be aware.). Just read all the ingredients you’re buying before you buy it – and don’t get complacent thinking the company will never change the ingredients. Keep aware. Look for Annatto in a very well known ‘health food’ boxed WHITE mac and cheese, too – I got caught on that one thinking ‘it’s not orange’…… had a reaction and started looking at what we ate – by the way it all affects me, too. Just because you’re not showing ‘obvious’ signs of behavioral changes does not mean it is not causing inflammation in the brain anyway. Maybe this is the cause of the Alzheimers epidemic, brain fog, memory loss, dementia that we’re seeing – just years of abuse of eating boxed, packaged, fast food. (I’m guilty of all of this so don’t feel bad – just make better choices and get rid of the obvious stuff first and you’ll be ahead of the game. By the way – if you like yogurt they make yogurt makers – saw one on a home shopping channel even.)

    Carrageenan is one of the most highly inflammatory things you can eat – I worked for 10 yrs in a health food store and always thought it was benign because it was ‘natural’. Not benign. Check your soy milk, dairy products, cream cheese, ricotta, ice cream, non dairy substitutes, creamers, etc. It makes things blend well so don’t just go by me – look up Carrageenan reactions or allergies online. See Cornucopia Institute for a list of products they know of with Carrageenan. Keep in mind this does not list Annatto and MSG so be aware of those things in the products listed.

    MSG is hiding under all sorts of names and there’s even a man who is an advocate against MSG who has been speaking on the ill effects of it for many years who was told by someone in the MSG manufacturing that when this guy reveals another hidden name MSG is under they will just think up ‘a different name to hide it under’. I am not kidding. The guy who is against MSG is named Dr Russell Blaylock and you can find lots of videos – some very in depth on You Tube. By the way the people who manufacture packaged foods – let’s say they order ‘spices’ to put into their chicken broth for example…..if they know that MSG is in the ordered spices (or any other ingredient they are importing from another manufacturer) the company packaging the food for sale legally can print on their package ‘no MSG’ and be within the law. In other words all they have to do to print ‘no MSG’ on their product and look like they are really on your side is to order an ingredient for part of their production and by law since they themselves did not manufacture that ingredient it could have MSG in it and they are NOT required to tell you – and they can state on their label ‘no MSG’….and it is all legal. If you call the company their CSR’s, supervisors, managers, and even Manufacturing all may be unaware of the truth of hidden MSG or they might just be telling you what they believe to be true – that MSG would say MSG on the label if it were in there.

    My experience with allergies / reactions of any sort is that people who don’t have them think it’s no big deal & even if they know something is in there they won’t see the importance of telling you because they’ve never experienced what you live through. I do wonder how many people are suffering depression and a host of other mental difficulties would benefit from taking these ingredients out of their food and their kids foods. If I’ve noticed a difference in someone so dramatically who doesn’t think there is a link at all (so it’s not placebo) then how many other people could at the very, very least improve dramatically with these changes.

    1. I am so sorry – just going thru old comments and trying to catch up. Thanks for sharing and hope to see you around again!

  9. Thanks! Any suggestions on what to supplement for infant Tylenol when by baby is sick or has a fever? I know that has red dye in it.

    1. Are you looking for help w/ immune issues or fever? I nursed my babies as much as possible when they were sick b/c keeping them hydrated was important.

  10. My wife was on the board of the Feingold Association for a few years. (Search the comments for a discussion about them.) Yep, we’re big believers in the food-to-behavior connection. See it first-hand with our three.

  11. Nice article! Yes food influences behavior. In fact, the U.S. Army recognized the science of foods during World War II and supplied the troops with foods based on their findings. We’ve listed the morale boosting foods for prepping, because foods that influence positive thoughts give hope and comfort for survival. — Happy Preppers

  12. Bummer that these videos don’t work…would love to see them…THEY DID work before…is there any way we can get them again??

    People NEED to see this…soo evident…yes!!
    PLEASE….thanks…would love to see them and can’t find on youtube either….??
    Maybe the sugar lobby does not want parents to see this?

    Ev

    1. I have no idea. It’s the oddest thing. Other videos of theirs are still there. Just that one on You Tube is all I could find.

  13. My husband and I need to be gluten free, so the kids really are too, and it helps. But the artificial coloring. Wow, we know when my daughter has had red especially. She used to break out in a rash, so we knew to avoid it. But now if she has even a small amount the drama and crying is out of control. She bawls “why does it make me feel this way, I don’t like it, I can’t stop.” It is like having a severely hormonal teenage girl instead of a young 8 year old girl. At that point she feels like the whole world is out to destroy her, and she then can’t control her anger and frustration. It is not a pretty sight AT ALL!

    1. Hi,

      Why don’t you hop over the fedup.com.au website? Thanks to it and the great work of an Australian hospital the site explains, our life has changed – the kids are incredibly healthy and nice to be with, from having one almost handicapped and borderline stupid (at times. Other times she was incredibly bright and we went crazy understanding why)…and the other hyper and a likely candidate to be expelled from school because of antisocial behavior… at times (the worst always coincidated btw with their grandmother visits, when the “treat” was chinese food and pizza at restaurants, but we understood this only in hindsight). We always knew there was something else, but never thought of the food, and neither did the eight or ten specialists we paid fortunes to, after the regular “scratch allergies test” were ok.

      Now both kids are on honor rolls, well behaved, and we allow ourselves to postpone again and again my daughter’s medical appointments for a slew of weird diseases which made her childhood a miserable period, for her and for us. Since on the diet (and gluten, dairy and soy free, too) she’s “miraculously” in total remission from everything… I even had a man in the mall approach me and present himself as a scout for a modelling agency- for a girl who less than ten months before was puffed up, hunched over herself, and limping…

      The downside? I go on holidays with my food processor, know the first name of cooks at half a dozen restaurants and plan eating out the way others do a mission behind enemy lines….

      Such a small price to pay, really

      1. Thanks, Emma. I am so glad to hear how well your family is doing. Love the holiday traveling plan. We took our Vitamix on vacation with us this summer :). Take care and hope to see you around again!

  14. Its now May of 2014 and I came looking for this post to link in an internet discussion. Sadly the videos are not currently working no matter if I reload or try other browsers. So I have called Netflix and asked that they add Food Hospital to their site so that I can tell my fellow Netflix patrons that it is there. That way I can also rewatch the episode in question (series 2 episode 6) and I can see the rest of the show as well. 😉

    Maybe a few more people from here could call in and suggest it as well! 😀

  15. hello
    Im writing an article about the Effects O f Foods On Kids Behavior.i read ur article it was great.but can u help me to find more information about this subject.thank you

  16. I Totally agree with the article about eating clean foods and avoiding chemicals, But as a mother who has a child with ADHD (and tries my best to feed my kids REAL food), I feel that telling people ADHD is “caused by artifical dyes” is wrong!!!! The same as telling people that vaccines cause autism! I totally agree that artificial dyes and processed foods can magnify hyperactivity, but to say they cause ADHD is not right. So many parents of children with ADHD struggle daily with themselves, wondering what did they do wrong, what didn’t they do right. I Know that My son’s brain works differently than those without ADHD, it is not a disability or handicap, but it has taught us to help him learn other ways for him to learn and focus. I try to avoid those food listed and many others, but I don’t see much of a difference in his behaviors. I don’t doubt the study but when linking it to ADHD, I disagree.

  17. I’m not surprised by the findings, nonetheless, great article! We need to get the “rest of the world” to be aware of this. Many parents just don’t see the long-term dangers of “junk food”.

  18. It’s not much of a surprise to me. I remember years ago my older cousin telling me that he hated when his daughter ate anything with a certain red colour dye (can’t remember which one) in it because it make her very hyper active. I also know that eating a lot of processed food can worsen ADD or ADHD behaviour. Sadly, so many parents don’t know or don’t care enough to watch what they give their children on a regular basis.