Candy Corn: Please Consume Responsibly

With Halloween only a week away, I find myself falling into the nostalgia of past Halloweens. Growing up, Halloween was about creative costumes that I spent hours making and candy corn. The sickly sweet triangles of delight have always been my favorite Halloween candy. My own love for this candy has encouraged me to write this blog post on candy corn consumption in The United States.

This year, candy companies will produce nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn. That is approximately 9 billion individual candy corn kernels. Candy corn is a classic Halloween treat that many people have a strong opinion about. People tend to either love it or hate it. A study that 23% of Americans hate candy corn and 77% of Americans love it.

While some Americans can't stand its over powering sweetness, other crave it. 19 pieces of candy corn contain 140 calories and 32 grams of sugar. That is about the same amount of sugar in a 12 oz can of Coca-Cola. If you need a reason to not feel guilty about eating the sugary kernels, candy corn is fat free! Woohoo. The fact that Americans consume this obviously unhealthy treat reminds me of Jared J's blog post about the addictive properties of sugar. In his post, Jared discussed how the last time the American people actively consumed and supported the advertising of a product that was so unhealthy was cigarettes. He also describes a Harvard Study that found that sugar is more addictive than cocaine. Candy corn is pure sugar, no wonder it is an addictive Halloween treat.

Thinking about Jared's post, made me wonder how sugar is effecting society in terms of health and products available. The New York Times article, The Extraordinary Science of Additive Junk Food, discusses this topic in great detail. Obesity is a national epidemic with 1 in 3 kids and teens being obese. Major food corporations such as Kraft, Nestle, and General Mills contribute to this epidemic by purposely adding sugar to their products. For example a half cup of Prego spaghetti sauce contains 2 teaspoons of sugar, which is the same amount of sugar in two Oreo cookies. Adding sugar is an effort used by large food corporations to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive. These companies are searching for the "Bliss Point", or the point where consumers develop a craving for the product.

When it comes to the health of society, how much responsibility should be place on food companies and how much responsibility should be place on consumers? 

Major food companies often feel that consumers are fickle and vary in what they care about. One day they might care about sugar; the next they might care about fat content. Food companies often justify the adding of sugar, sodium, and fat to their products because it's "what the consumer wants". Consumers like the taste of sugar and buy products that have better taste. When asked about adding unhealthy additives to foods, a major food company replied, "that's what consumers want and we're not putting a gun to their heads to eat it. That's what they want. If we given them less, they'll buy less, and the competition will get our market. So we're trapped". From this point of view, food companies are simply making the products consumers want and it's the consumers fault if they purchase them. Many brands have product lines that cater to the health preferences of individuals. Take yogurt for example, there are regular, fat free, zero calorie, and zero sugar options available to consumers. It's up to the consumer to pick which one they eat.

On the other hand, we cannot absolve food companies of all of the blame. Many people are unaware of the added sugar, sodium, and fat in their foods and the health risks that come with it. Knowing the potential risks of consuming too much sugar, sodium, and fat, food companies need to look out for the consumers. Major food corporations are "keen to give people more of what they want, yet simultaneously inflict collateral damage on their lives". The last time companies willingly gave consumers what they wanted and disregarded the health risks, were cigarettes.

Finding the balance between giving what consumers want and looking out for the consumers health is a major challenge for food companies. In this situation, consumers can be considered teenagers and the food companies their  wise mothers. There's a reason mom always said, "You'll thank me later." Food companies need to adopt this level of care for consumers, while still knowing that if consumers want to risk their health they will find other products to consume. In the end we must all take responsibility for the general health of society.