Inside the Trick-or-Treat Bag: A Dietician Rates the Candy

Need a candy consultant as you contemplate the countdown to Halloween? Dietician Gloria Tsang, author of Go UnDiet: 50 Small Actions for Lasting Weight Loss, has some free advice for parents of Trick-or-Treaters: All candies are not created equal.

"With big differences in calories, sugar, and quality of ingredients used, it's just not true that all Halloween candy is the same," Tsang said. "None of them are exactly good for you, but we've done some close analysis of common competitors to see which options are best from a nutrition perspective."

Her web site, HealthCastle.com, offers these comparisons:

PayDay beats Reese Peanut Butter Cups: Reese Cups contain polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), a commercial emulsifier used to reduce cocoa butter. Plus, PayDay is the only candy to list peanuts, not sugar, as the first ingredient. 
  
Kit Kat beats Twix: They're similar in calories and sugar (and both include PGPR), but Twix’s ingredient list is surprisingly long. Even more surprising? Twix is marketed as a biscuit topped with caramel and chocolate, but there’s no caramel on the ingredient list.

M&Ms beat Skittles: Both contestants in this classic Halloween showdown contain artificial colorings and wax. M&Ms at least offer a tiny amount of calcium and protein, and less sugar. 

Baby Ruth beats Snickers: There's no real winner here – Snickers has partially hydrogenated oil, and Baby Ruth has high-fructose corn syrup and the preservative TBHQ. Snickers loses out simply because the portion is larger, leaving room for more calories. 

Mounds beats Almond Joy: Mounds has a shorter ingredient list, and skips the partially hydrogenated oil found in Almond Joy. 

3 Musketeers beats Hershey Milk Chocolate: The Hershey bar has that sneaky PGPR, while 3 Musketeers was unique among the candies surveyed in actually including real cocoa powder.

Whoppers beat Milk Duds: Milk Duds will stick to your (or your kid's) teeth, so they're a no-no for anyone with dental issues. Plus, the smaller Whoppers serving saves some calories."

Thanks, Gloria. But we can't help wondering how the candy preferences of our Patch users compare with your nutritional perspective. So tell us your favorites in the comments section.