Yes, We Consume a Lot of Sugar. No, It Won't Kill Everyone Tonight.

”¢ Americans will spend $2.2 billion on Halloween candy this year.

”¢ Day-of candy consumption isn’t exactly an anomaly: Americans currently suck down about 22 teaspoons of sugar every day, or 75 pounds of sugar a year.

”¢ Added sugar now shows up in myriad packaged foods, from crackers to salad dressings to breads.

”¢ There’s little doubt sugar has a significant role in our country’s current obesity epidemic.

”¢ The current push by the FDA to include an “Added Sugar” category on nutrition labels will never stand up to the various food lobbies.

Conclusion: we’re all doomed. (We’re extrapolating here.)

But before you ditch the mini-Krackels and begin weeping into your bowl of baked kale chips, let’s counter with some Halloween-friendly thinking.

First off, as Oliver concedes, sugar is far from the only culprit in the country’s obesity problems. Socioeconomic status and genetics are two well-examined factors; Julie Guthman also argues in “Weighing In” that environmental toxins have a significant impact on the way we store fat in ways that have nothing to do with our daily eating habits.

Also? Our obesity “epidemic” may well be a misunderstood phenomenon, given that the BMI index doesn’t take into account muscle mass or bone density. And, science can’t even officially conclude that being overweight — or “overweight” — is a bad thing. That enormous study from the CDC and National Institutes of Health last year found zippo correlation between larger body size and mortality; in fact, there was a slight decrease in mortality risk among those classified as either overweight or obese. As Paul Campos, the author of the “Obesity Myth,” points out, our deeply ingrained views on health and body mass, driven in part by the economic interests of the pharmaceutical and weight-loss industries, make it nigh impossible for us to see thinness as anything less than desirable, even if it’s not the healthful ideal.

We are not even remotely singing the praises of the white stuff here. Sugar has myriad other deleterious health effects, from tooth decay to heart disease to decreased brain function (that “sugar = cocaine” study is especially shudder-inducing). All we’re saying is, sugar isn’t necessarily the cause of obesity and obesity isn’t necessarily a health albatross and if you’re a healthful eater 360-something days of the year, Halloween isn’t necessarily a boycott-worthy holiday.

So for tonight at least, we’ll save our outrage for that sexy Ebola worker costume.

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