People in South America have never seen sugar rushes in real life, and every single child is given sugar every day. A common breakfast and afternoon snack includes coffee(!) with lots of milk and sugar.
If genes were involved we would expect the prevalence to be different, but there is no way that not a single South American child has the right genes for sugar rush.
Yes, that's the point i was making - kids who have lots of sugar don't seem to be affected, as it's just their baseline, whereas kids who don't have a lot of sugar do seem to exhibit it.
Curiously, my friend's partner's Argentinian, so... .
It might depend on how literally you mean "have lots of sugar".
If the dominant component really is physicalist/biological then things that actually contain sugar but don't look like they contain sugar will cause sugar rushes. For example fruit juice, ketchup, pizza.
If it's cultural/psychological then only things that are "sugar-coded" will produce the effect. Like candy, syrup, ice cream, soft drinks.
If you feel like doing some mad science, see if you can give your kids a rush using sugar-free coke or something like that.
Sadly, I've informed my daughter that she can't have coke until she's 22 :)
Also, I'm 'one of those' and avoid sugar-free alternatives.
For sure though, I can't say I've much noticed it in the likes of fruit smoothies and such, nor when she has a lollypop or some other sugar-laden thing that takes time to consume.
If genes were involved we would expect the prevalence to be different, but there is no way that not a single South American child has the right genes for sugar rush.
Is sugar rush a culture-bound syndrome?