Halloween 2013: 5 Candies That Will Wreak Havoc On Your Health

Halloween wouldn’t be the same without the sugary, sweet confections we exchange. Bite-sized treats are a staple of almost any Halloween celebration, and indulging -- just a little bit -- is certainly not going to send you to an early grave.

But some Halloween treats are worse than others. A combination of high sugar content and trans fats makes these candies worth thinking twice about before plopping them into your mouth. With 1.9 million new cases of diabetes diagnosed in the U.S. every year, overconsumption of sugars is certainly no laughing matter.

You’d be hard pressed to come up with a list of the top-five worst candy contenders, because, really, they’re all pretty rotten for you. The average hard candy is 63 percent sugar, with some candy containing nearly 85 percent sugar.

But if we had to pick, here are the ones we think you’re better off avoiding this Halloween:

1. Candy Corn

Their color scheme screams Halloween and conjures up nostalgic childhood memories of trick-or-treating. But despite what its name might suggest, Candy Corn doesn’t count as a vegetable. These rather waxy little candies are chalk full of sugar -- every piece contains more than a gram of it.

Take Part also noted that Candy Corn has Red 3 in it, a coloring agent that the Environmental Working Group has labeled “high concern” for its carcinogenic properties.

2. Sour Patch Kids

They’re sour, they’re sweet, they’re terrible for your teeth. According to doctors, these little guys’ high acid levels can quickly break down teeth enamel. It’s better to leave the toothy grins to the Jack-o-lanterns.

3. Skittles

A single serving of “The Rainbow” contains 250 calories -- that’s one-eighth of your daily caloric intake. Skittles also have one of the highest sugar contents of any candy. Not to mention, any chewable candy that sticks to your teeth longer than it takes to chew it is usually quite bad for your oral well-being.

4. Snickers

Snickers contain 16 grams of fat and 296 calories. Enough said.

“Chocolate is loaded with fat and calories,” Christen Cupples Cooper, owner of Cooper Nutrition in Pleasantville, N.Y., told Woman’s Day. Plus, “caramel is a serious source of tooth decay.”

5. Tootsie Rolls

Even though they’re small, each small Tootsie Roll contains 23 calories. Those will add up pretty quickly once you get going. And, like skittles, anything super chewy that will linger long in your mouth probably doesn’t belong there.