Freddy Krueger is retired, Jason is deceased and Scream hasn’t been scary for decades. No, these days the scariest thing about Halloween is also the sweetest. Start a search today to find the most dangerous Halloween candies.
Halloween candy is addictive because sugar is addictive and (spoiler alert) Halloween candy is full of sugar. We’re all entitled to indulge every once in a while but these candies might be some of the most unhealthy!
Snickers
Close your eyes. Imagine yourself as an 8-year-old pirate, exhausted following an evening of plundering your neighborhood. You get home, you empty out your pillow sack onto the floor and you pluck a Snickers from the pile.
Now, fast forward about 3 months. You’re sitting in the dentist’s chair because, though you tried your hardest, you couldn’t fully de-caramel your back molars.
Pixy Stix
I like to think that the Tooth Fairy and the Pixie that invented Pixy Stix are on the same team. But I digress.
I could tell you all about the artificial food coloring. I could wax poetic about sugar content and tooth decay. But you already know the truth about Pixy Stix. And deep down, you’ve always known the truth. Because even a child understands that Pixy Stix are really just sugar packets with fancier packaging.
Candy Corn
Don’t be fooled by the name — Candy Corn is not a vegetable. In fact, it’s literally the farthest thing from a vegetable.
Not only does it look gross, its top three ingredients are sugar, corn syrup and confectioner’s wax. It’s sugar held together by sugar held together edible glue. Yum.
Kit Kat
With 21 grams of sugar and 11 grams of fat, it’s probably a good idea to take a break from these ones too. You really are better off going the healthier route. Grab an apple, peel a banana, or just drink a glass of water. The sugar craving will subside in no time.
Gobstopper
A Gobstopper — or Jawbreaker to the North Americans in the house — is a hard, sugary candy with multiple layers of varying sizes. Gobstoppers are dangerous for the same reason Tootsie Pops are dangerous: they expose teeth to sugar for a long, long time. But Gobstoppers can also be a choking hazard. Though they should be fine for children over the age of 10, my mother wouldn’t let me have one until I turned 22.
Starburst
Talking smack about Starbursts comes naturally to me. Because, well… I hate Starburst. They take forever to unwrap and they taste like tea-candles dipped in sugar — about 22 grams of it (per square), and a lot of fat too.
Also, Starburst candy has this incredible ability to find the deepest, darkest corner of your mouth and call it home.
Tootsie Pops
Denouncing the sweet, delicious taste of this Halloween classic feels just plain wrong. They’ve just been around for so long. It’s like finding out that Grandma’s signature spaghetti sauce comes from a can.
Children have been enjoying Tootsie Pops since 1931, and dentists have been repairing the damage since then too. The danger with Tootsie Pops is that they take so long to finish, and exposing your teeth to sugar for that long is, well… the reason most of our grandparents don’t have any more teeth to brush.
Twizzlers
I’ll admit it. There was a period in my life when every straw was a Twizzler straw. But I’m a grown man now and grown men aren’t allowed to use straws. And I’m thankful for that. Because, though they’re low in fat, Twizzlers are high in sugar. There are nearly six grams of it per piece!
So here’s a tip. When you have a hankering for your favorite strawberry-flavored confectionary, just reach for a real strawberry instead.
Whoppers
Whoppers are as American as Apple Pie, the Second Amendment, and reality television. Unfortunately for you, all of those things are also bad.
Whoppers, introduced to the public in 1949, consist of malted milk balls and an artificial “chocolaty coating.” The artificial chocolatey coating couldn’t possibly be good for you. Also, Maltesers are better.
3 Musketeers
Here’s a diet tip. Next time you’ve got a craving for a 3 Musketeers bar, share it with three people. It’s really the only safe way to consume 7 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 36 grams of sugar, and 90 mg of sodium.
Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Cream
It’s 3 in the afternoon. Your work is done for the day, and you’re counting down the minutes until it’s late enough for you to sneak out the back door and make your way back home. You turn your attention away from Facebook and focus in on the office vending machine. You yearn for the perfect combination of chocolate cookies and white chocolate.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to settle for Hershey’s Cookies ’n’ Cream. Because Cookies ‘n’ Cream doesn’t actually contain any white chocolate whatsoever. Gross.
Twix
Buying a Twix just feels like you’re getting a good value. I mean, you’re getting 2 chocolate bars! You’re also getting 27 grams of sugar and 14 grams of fat! That’s a pretty incredible sugar-to-dollar ratio, too.
M&Ms
Chocolate, even milk chocolate, isn’t as bad for you as you might think. Sadly, there’s more to M&Ms than milk chocolate. Sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup… it’s a real life nightmare. And they’re small, too… so you can easily eat 100 of them inside of 10 minutes.
Oh Henry!
An Oh Henry candy bar is 330 calories. That’s more than a McDonald’s Cheeseburger (290 calories), a Whopper Jr. from Burger King (300 calories), and a six-piece nugget meal from Wendy’s (270 calories). That’s insane, really. Deliciously, deliciously insane.
Milky Way
Milky Way candy bars have one of the more complex recipes of all the products mentioned. Including milk chocolate, milk fat, malted barley, egg whites, corn syrup, and more. It also includes more sugar than most bars (31 grams) and an obscene amount of saturated fat (7 grams).
Sour Patch Kids
I bet you saw this one coming. It doesn’t take a nutritionist to figure out that Sour Patch Kids are bad for you. Loaded with sugar, artificial flavors, and colorings… they get stuck in your teeth very, very easily. And they’re very acidic, which is another horror story for your teeth. So the next time you think about picking up a bag, just think of your dentist and don’t.
Skittles
These are a classic. They’re the Ford Mustang of candy. Sugary, colorful, flavorful… what’s not to love?
They’re also incredibly bad for you. Artificial coloring, artificial flavors, trans fat, sugar, corn syrup… I know, I know, I’ll stop. The thing is, most candy is bad for you. Just take control of the cravings and limit them to cheat days, special occasions, and reality TV marathons. Maybe not that last one.
Baby Ruth
Babe Ruth wasn’t really known for his physique. He was known for his hard-hitting, explosive impact on the game of baseball.
His candy bar hits hard too. 275 calories per serving, 32 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of fat. It’s like a baseball bat to your weight loss goals.
Swedish Fish
Chewy, flavorful, and sugary. Swedish Fish have been sold in North America since the 1950s. The main ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starts, and red dye. Swedish Fish actually have one of the highest sugar-to-calorie ratios in the industry. With very little nutritional value.
Smarties
As a child, I always preferred Smarties over the more traditional M&Ms. It turns out, I prefer Smarties because they have way, way more sugar. A single serving size (30 Smarties) can contain up to 22 grams of sugar along with 4 grams of fat and 24 grams of carbs. The real smart decision would be staying far, far away.