This Is Your Body on Halloween Candy

— -- intro: If you think you’re the only one who raids their kid’s trick or treat bag, think again. Nearly 90 percent of parents sneak a treat from the Halloween candy their child brings home, according to the National Confectioners Association. Grownups in the household eat nearly half of all Halloween candy bars, the association found.

Perhaps you need a deterrent to prevent yourself from raiding your child’s fun-sized stuff. This look at how Halloween treats affect your body might do the trick.

quicklist: 1category: This is your body on Halloween candytitle: Teeth and Gums url:text: The mouth is where candy can do the most potential damage, according to New York City dentist Barry Kramer.

“The bacteria that live in your mouth survive on the food you eat,” Kramer explained. “When you mass consume sugar, the bacteria feast upon it creating a highly acidic environment that wears down tooth enamel and leads to cavities.”

Kramer advised eating all the candy you are going to eat in one sitting (rather than nibbling throughout the night) then doing a thorough brushing. He also recommended sipping some chamomile tea to help wash the sugar out of your mouth.

Choose chocolate bars rather than gooey, sticky candies which are tough to remove from the bumps and grooves of the teeth, he said, adding that these tips apply to kids too.

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quicklist: 2category: This is your body on Halloween candytitle: Blood Sugarurl:text: Binge-eating candy, especially on an empty stomach, can cause a spike in blood sugar, explained Keith Ayoob, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

Most people pump out insulin in response to this sugar rush and their blood sugar balances out within an hour or so, Ayoob said. But after a major sweet splurge it can take up to twice as long for blood sugar to stabilize, leaving you feeling fatigued and dehydrated.

“Sugary candies have the greatest potential to cause a blood sugar crash,” Ayoob said. “Chocolate contains a little bit of fat and protein, which can blunt the effects.”

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quicklist: 3category: This is your body on Halloween candytitle: Your Hearturl:text: If you’re over 40, don’t overindulge on black licorice. The dark, ropey candy contains glycyrrhizin, a chemical that may cause a dangerous depletion of potassium, the Food and Drug Administration warned. Eating just two ounces of this sweet over the course of a few weeks can land you in the hospital with irregular heart rhythms known as arrhythmia, the agency warned.

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quicklist: 4category: This is your body on Halloween candytitle: Waistlineurl:text: Six fun-sized candy bars adds up to 500 calories, explained registered dietician and nutrition expert Cynthia Sass.

“That may not seem like very much, but it would take you 50 minutes on the elliptical [machine] or 60 minutes of brisk walking to burn that off,” she pointed out.

Lower calorie candies may actually do more damage to your waistline than those that are high calorie, Sass noted. Because they are less satisfying, you keep eating. Save your candy wrappers instead of tossing them, she advised.

“It’ll help you keep track of your indulgences,” she said.

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