DeeDee Brown of Richmond, Virginia, was looking for anything that might explain her daughter's meltdowns. "Normally, Chloe's calm and happy," says Brown. "But there were times when she'd fall apart -- screaming and yelling and so angry that nothing I said or did could console her." Just the terrible twos? Overtiredness? Playing with certain friends? Brown ruled out the possibilities one by one till she made the connection.

"Once a week, we'd go to the bank, where Chloe would get a lollipop. An hour later, she'd be a complete emotional mess." Brown noticed the same pattern after cookie binges and birthday parties. "I should have known," she says in hindsight. "I get cranky after eating sugar. I just didn't think about my child having the same issue."

Lick the Sugar Habit. The New Sugar Busters! Little Sugar Addicts. Good Carbs, Bad Carbs. A slew of new books would have us blame sugar for everything from behavioral problems to skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity and diabetes. Yet babies come into the world with a sweet tooth (nature's way of drawing them to breast milk), so you may wonder, how could an occasional lollipop or cupcake be so detrimental?

Is sugar really poison -- or a harmless part of childhood?

For all the hype on both sides of the controversy, the truth may surprise you. Pediatricians and nutritionists agree: In modest amounts, sugar can have a healthful place in a child's diet (or an adult's). But many kids get too much, too often. Worse, sugar-rich foods tend to be full of empty calories and often displace the nutritious foods children need. A recent landmark study of more than 3,000 infants and toddlers found that close to half of 7- to 8-month-olds are already consuming sugar-sweetened snacks, sodas, and fruit drinks, a percentage that increases dramatically with age.