"Halloween candy" news and stories

Are trick-or-treaters in a candy rut? Year after year, kids come home with bags full of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Twizzlers, and M & M's. Isn't it time to switch things up? The editors over at YumSugar have rounded up the top-selling candies from around the world -- from Bounty to ToffeeCrisp to a Yorkie bar (but what's with the Yorkie's "It's Not For Girls!" slogan?). This Halloween, bust out and get your hands on some of these delicious international treats.

Top-Selling Candy From Around the World

No one is going to claim they eat Halloween candy because it's good for them. But the Daily Beast ran the numbers on calories, fat, carbs and sodium for 40 top treats, and found that of the almost 25 pounds of candy per person that Americans eat annually, some sweets are definitely less fattening than others. So you can pick your Junior Mints or Hershey's Crunch Bar with all that knowledge. Just sayin'. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are on the list, and all we'll say is that it's better news than we thought. Almond Joy? Ouch, but you'll still be our BFF. Visit the Daily Beast for their rogues' and winners' gallery of candies.

Halloween is known for many things -- witches, zombies, tooth decay -- but environmentalism isn't among them. Just consider all the candy purchased, each tiny piece individually wrapped, of course. (Guilty.) And then a good portion of each haul is fated to be discreetly tossed out by concerned parents. (Still guilty.) And then there's all those plastic orange jack-o'lantern bags clogging up the landfills. (Sigh....guilty. Again.)

Some parents are trying to change all that -- and many businesses are happy to help by creating organic "green" treats. After all, if you're striving to eat mindfully and be environmentally aware throughout the rest of the year, why forsake those values on October 31?

"I just feel like candy is unnecessary," Jennifer Boyd-Mullineaux, mother of two children, ages 7 and 9, told MSNBC. "You see the incredible volumes of candy collected -- knowing that no one should eat that much -- and it just goes into the trash. It just doesn't seem responsible to us."

Would you accept a little bag of baby carrots as a substitute for, say, a mini Snickers bar in your Halloween trick-or-treat sack? Neither would we. We love carrots; really, we do, but the "Eat 'Em LIke Junk Food" campaign and now the "Scarrots" trick-or-treat gambit is pushing it. The editors at Eatocracy give us the skinny on what's hot and what's not for Halloween. A hint: candy corn is still Miss Popularity. Since, Americans will most likely spend $2 billion on candy this year (we kid you not), it's time to choose wisely. And then get some dental insurance.