Halloween and sugar addiction

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2014 (4029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Halloween can be tricky for health-conscious parents.

Call me your friendly neighbourhood Halloween buzzkill, but here’s a reminder that this holiday tradition is a recipe for addiction on a massive scale. Many health and nutrition practitioners have long suspected that sugar has addictive properties. I’ve certainly seen many clients battle with sugar addiction, along with the symptoms of withdrawal once they try to eliminate added sugar from their diet.  

There is an increasing body of research to back this up. A 2007 French study in Bordeaux by Lenoir, Serre, Cantin, and Ahmed found that rats chose sugar over cocaine, even when they were already addicted to cocaine, suggesting that intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward.

This might not be so bad if candy was made of plain old cane sugar, but the reality is that high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than sugar, so manufacturers use it in just about everything from Halloween candy, to cereals, to baked goods and condiments. High fructose corn syrup is a refined sugar that is metabolized differently in the body than glucose. Scientists are coming to understand that fructose doesn’t make us feel full, instead it fools the brain into thinking that we are still hungry. Fructose is lipogenic, meaning that it tends to produce fat. If we ingest too much fructose, it cannot be converted into energy by our cells and it must be handled by the liver, leading to fatty liver, initiating a snowball effect of chronic illness and obesity.

Difficulty stopping after “just one piece”, headaches or mood swings when abstaining from sugar for a day, and daily rituals requiring sugar, such as needing a treat while watching TV, are all classic signs of addiction. If these seem familiar, you are likely suffering from sugar addiction. If it’s a hard truth for you to handle, imagine how difficult it must be for a child at this time of year. If you don’t plan to limit your child’s intake, be prepared to deal with the fallout when you find them sneaking into your purse to find spare change to feed their addiction.

By the time this article is published, you will likely have a closet full of sugary treats from the weekend’s festivities. So what is a health-conscious parent to do?

Some options include having your kids donate the candy, buying the candy from your children or trading it for something else they’ve had their eye on for a while.  

And of course, you could just “misplace” the whole stash…

Tania Tetrault Vrga is owner and head trainer at CrossFit Winnipeg. Send questions to her at www.crossfitwinnipeg.com.