I went to a kids party today and had my usual guilt-intensive session of watching Leo eat a whole plate of disgraceful fatty junk (frankfurts, sausage rolls and chips), followed by lollies and cake, all topped off with more lollies to take home. Geez Louise!
One of the other parents standing near me said that she had heard a nutritionist on the radio say that it might be best to let kids gorge on the lolly bag all in one go - this way they may not absorb all the sugar whereas if you mete it out over a number of days, they will definitely take it all on. Interesting theory although this is surely an example of nutrition Chinese whispers (like the one where if a kid eats some kiwi fruit, banana and strawberries that has all the vitamins they need for the day).
So I tried to get at any research/sciency info that can tell you how much sugar a body can absorb in a sitting - although obviously the first answer would be that it depends on a range of factors like the person's size and metabolism. Maybe I didn't search well (I tried quite a few phrases and terms) but I really just came up with a lot of nutrition related posts and discussion threads where people mentioned 'research' but didn't reference anything I could chase up. There was some stuff that explained that the fibre content of food affects how much sugar will be absorbed but that's not really relevant when you're talking lollies.
Bottom line - I think that the technique that we've been using might be better at helping Leo not to absorb the sugar. Put the lolly bag on a high shelf where only his dad can see them. They magically disappear by the end of the week and Leo forgets about them. Now there is just the question about how to keep Gaz's sugar intake down...
