According to a new study sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, there is no evidence that frequency of candy consumption affects the likelihood of obesity or heart disease. Evidently, candy’s daily contribution to total calories, sugar and saturated fat is too small to have any significant impact on one’s health.
[via Know Your Meme]
YA RLY! But only if your daily candy consumption accounts for about 44 calories, 5 grams of sugar and 1 gram of saturated fat.
Let’s say you regularly eat Hershey Kisses. One Kiss has just over 20 calories, 2.5 g of sugar and less than a gram of saturated fat. Not so bad, right? Seems to fit the “won’t affect your health” requirements of the NCA’s study. The problem is, who eats just one Kiss? A full serving–9 Kisses–packs 200 calories, 23 g sugar and 7 g saturated fat. The nutrition label of a typical full-size candy bar like Snickers or Milky Way reads about the same, and you know you’re going to eat that whole thing in one sitting. Even if you don’t have them every single day, that’s still a heck of a lot more than the “2% of the total caloric intake of an average adult” (which, at 2200 calories, is a very generous underestimate for most Americans).
NCA spokesperson Laura Shumow states in the press release that “a little treat in moderation can have a positive impact on mood and satisfaction, and as emerging research suggests, minimal impact on diet and health risk.” While we see no reason to deny yourself “little pleasures, such as candy,” the key phrase here is ‘in moderation.’ If candy makes up a much larger percentage of your daily food intake than this study based its findings on, you might run into some issues down the road. However, if you watch your portions and limit yourself to that small amount of candy (or other sugary treat), you can certainly incorporate it into your diet without worrying too much about your health.
[via The Daily Meal]
Do you allow yourself a regular “treat”? How do you make sure you stay in control of your portions?
