All Articles, Food & Nutrition
The Scary Truth about Halloween Candy
| October 30, 2009 | |
| Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego |
Want to know my favorite hour of Halloween? Approximately 10 p.m. when my kids are safely tucked into their beds . . . so the coast is clear for me to go ransack their bag of chocolate treasures. Oh come on, you know we have all done it. Don’t act so innocent. It always starts with the promise “Well, just a piece or two” and ends with “I hope they don’t notice the giant dent I made.” And may I just add that there is nothing fun about those “Fun Size” candy bars. Fun size is a 2 pound brick of chocolate; those puny sniblet morsels are just annoying. But the real scare in all of this Halloween fun is thinking about what that sugar is going to do to their immune system.
Oh, I just had to go rain on the Halloween parade, didn’t I? Well let’s review this important issue and decided if there are ways to limit the damage.
The sugar in all that wonderful free candy that Johnny just begged for is going to shut his immune system down making him more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses as well as bacterial infections. If you just explain that to Johnny then I’m sure he will hand over all that candy without an argument. Yeah, right.
White blood cells hunt down nasty virus and bacteria that are present in your body. The cells that do this are called macrophages and lymphocytes and they destroy the bad invaders in a process called phagocytosis. We have known for 30 years that the amount of vitamin C in the cell affects its ability to phagocytize (destroy) these viral and bacterial intruders. This is where the candy comes in. Guess what competes with vitamin C for entry into the lymphocytes and macrophages?
That’s right . . . Snickers bars and those nasty fake orange circus peanuts also known as sugar. Vitamin C and sugar have similar chemical structures and compete for seats on the same bus that drives them into the cell. If there is more sugar around then there will be less vitamin C getting onto that bus and into that cell.
Now let’s get serious, is Johnny going to pick healthy fruits loaded with vitamin C or a Reese’s Cup? Personally I have had my eye on that Reese’s Cup since last night and just waiting for a moment of inattention so I can swoop in on that bad boy. But I digress . . .
The phagocytic index (your new word for the day) is a measure of how fast macrophages and lymphocytes eat up viral and bacterial invaders. This phagocytic index (I love that) is reduced by 75% when the sugar level exceeds 120. So when I grab that Butterfinger out of little Johnny’s hand I am actually saving him from certain immune catastrophe despite his screams of foul play.
Your blood sugar varies throughout the day but a high candy intake will send the sugar above 120 with relative ease. So what are we to do?
Well I am in favor of imposing martial law and reclaiming these sugary treats for proper disposal, which occurs after 10 P.M. However I sense a full scale mutiny and thus propose plan B which is to limit the sugar exposure to one hour per night.
Every time your kids take in a nice bolus of candy their immune system goes into a coma for 5 or 6 hours and eventually reawakens. So if they are allowed to snack intermittently on their sugary bounty then they will essentially be shutting their immune system down all day. But if you give them access to their Halloween stash for an hour a night then at least you limit their exposure and they are home and in bed when their immune system checks out and not around their sneezing, coughing friends.
Yes they will still endure some risk of infection from the sugar blast but at least you have reduced it and focused it to the evening hours. By morning they will have their immune system restored and ready for the day and hopefully not shake hands with the H1N1 monster. Avoid the temptation of putting a few little candy treats in their school lunch box.
OK, so a few whiners in the crowd (phagocytic index) are crying foul as this late night sugar exposure will wire their kids to high heaven and they will never go to sleep. Well hello myth busters, Dr. Huber calling.
The idea that sugar increases uncontrolled behavior in kids has been studied and refuted. The reality is that sugar intake does NOT result in random acts of lunacy by children despite our parental search for an answer.
So good luck with the whole trick or treat thing. I wish you well and will offer my services to dispose of any harmful candy that my cross your doorstep. Just mail all unwanted Snickers bars to HAE main office and we will dispose of them at no charge and save poor Johnny from certain doom.
[14 Comments] [14 Comments]
Dr Gary Huber
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This was a fantastic article and gave me some strategies for myself and loved ones regarding the Halloween candy stash. Very informative!! Thanks!
Hi Allyson,
I’m glad that was a help to you. If it’s strategies you are looking for then I have another that I am using with my 10 year old son. He is crazy for Lego’s and after enjoying some of his candy on Halloween night he is going to trade in the rest of the candy for 2 Lego sets. Thats less candy going in him and he thinks he’s made off like a bandit.
Trick or Treat
Dr. Gary Huber
What a great idea about the Legos for candy! Why didn’t I think of that? I just presented it to my boys and they were all over it! Brilliant and they won’t even miss the candy!
Oh, now that’s smart. I think I’ll assign a dollar value to the candy and let them cash it in on a few items I knew I’d be buying for them within the next month anyway. Thanks for that idea.
How about handing out vitamin C drops for halloween instead of that candy?
That’s what I’m going to do.
I have sworn off sugar since hearing the words for the second time, “You have cancer.” I have read and have been told that sugar feeds cancer cells, but did not know about its role on the immune system. Thanks for this informative article. I’m not so sure I can keep my daughter from eating her Halloween candy, though. It’s hard enough keeping it from my husband!
Hi Tami,
Wow! I guess that would change your perspective on candy just a bit. While your at it, consider the other items that promote cancer growth like insulin, excess estrogen, and an acidic body. Managing these elements can help tilt the odds in your favor. I wish you well.
Dr. Gary Huber
Thanks Dr. Huber. I would love to hear more about this and how to manage them.
Hi Tami,
A good percentage of my practice involves treating cancer patients so it is a topic I am passionate about. Check out some of the articles related to this on our site. Addressing body acidity, “Drop Acid.” Another article is entitled “Narrowest of Margins”. Hormones, and in particular estrogen is addressed in the Breast Health e-book (available free to our subscribers). These are all easy starting points.
One of my favorite authors on the topic is Ralph Moss, PhD, who has written several good books on the topic of cancer and nutrition, supplements, chemo, and immune system. Huge topic and happy to discuss it with you sometime.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gary Huber
The “Great Pumpkin” visited our home on halloween night confiscating all (I mean almost all) the candy leaving cute little tea sets (which the girls had been asking for) in place of the bucket of candy. Being 5 and 7 they are still humoring me and were actually excited about their treats. It’s fun hearing them tell everyone about the great pumpkin. I wonder when they will wonder why the great pumpkin doesn’t visit all their friends houses. Even still they are both fighting something this week. I once heard Dr. Sears say the week after Halloween was their busiest week in the doctor’s office all year.
Great idea about the candy/toy exchange! Any suggestions for what to do with the candy?
I know what your thinking . . . “perfectly good candy . . . why waste it?” I had that dilemma initially but whom ever I give it to is going to suffer the same fate that I was trying to avoid in my own children. So I do have a few ideas that come to mind depending on your situation.
1. If you recently suffered an ugly divorce then perhaps you might send it to your ex.
2. Send the bulk of it to his lawyer.
3. I hear the Taliban are hungry, but they’re already sick so it might be redundant.
4. Why not mail it to Monsanto to return the favor, they’ve been making us sick for years.
5. Perhaps the FDA, if they’re not going to protect us then why should we bother protecting them.
Whoever eats all that sugar will incur a nasty hit to their immune system, an erratic swing in blood sugar, fuel growth of yeast and fungus in the bowel, and raise their insulin which leads to inflammation and weight gain. Throw it in the trash where it belongs.
Dr. Gary Huber
What is considered to be high sugar content? Is there a certain number of grams that is considered low sugar? I get that sugar is bad, but its nice to have a sweet treat every once in awhile and it would be nice to have some better choices on hand.
Hi Angie,
I consider anything under 5 grams of sugar per serving to be relatively low. Now we are talking about processed foods because whole foods don’t come with labels and they don’t need to. But if you need a little treat from time to time I wouldn’t worry about the grams of sugar. If you want a treat then have an ice cream cone or a piece of cake. Certainly more than 5 grams of sugar per serving but then treats only happen once a week or so. Uh oh . . . I hit the sore spot . . . treats happen how often? For too many of us we feel the need to satisfy our sweet tooth once or even twice A DAY!!! Thats a whole different conversation.
Enjoy,
Dr. Gary Huber