"Sugar makes children hyper".

We've all heard this before and maybe you've even observed it in kids.

But... it's actually a misconception.

There are lots of widely believed misconceptions about science that are just plain wrong - like "You only use ten percent of your brain".

You really use one hundred percent of your brain.

I hope that doesn't surprise you.

Here a few misconceptions about sugar that I've noticed in the past few weeks.

Sugar makes children hyper At least a dozen studies have looked at how children behave on diets containing different levels of sugar - both natural sugars you find in fruit and added sugars you find in chocolate or candy and lollies.

None of these studies found significant differences in behaviour between kids who had sugar and kids that didn't.

And in another study, parents who thought their kids had just consumed a sugary drink rated their kids' behaviour as more hyperactive.

Even if those drinks were really sugar free.

Often it's kids surroundings that make them hyper - they're excited, with friends or at a birthday party.

And parents often attribute this behaviour to sugar.

Sugar rots your teeth It is correct to say that sugar can cause tooth decay, but it doesn't directly rot your teeth.

In your mouth you have 500 to 1000 different types of bacteria, and a few species of these are thought to cause cavities.

The main culprit is Streptococcus mutans.

S. mutans loves to feed on the carbohydrates left on your teeth as residue, from sugars or from starch in bread or potatoes.

From this S. mutans produce high levels of lactic acid, which diffuses into the tooth and your enamel begins to dissolve.

Of course, the more sugar you eat, the more residue you have left on your teeth.

Certain areas on your tongue sense different tastes You may have seen this well-structured Tongue Map before, but there's no one area for different taste receptors on your tongue.

This myth is thought to originate from one study in 1901, but it wasn't debunked until 1974.

Really, your taste buds are all over your tongue.

They live in your papillae, the tiny bumps that give your tongue its rough texture.

In your taste buds there's different cells that respond to sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami tastes - umami being the taste of glutamate that gives meat and delicacies like Vegemite their savory flavour.

Your taste cells have 50 to 150 receptors for each taste, when they're stimulated they send messages to the brain, where those specific tastes are perceived.

See you next week.