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American Morning

Parents Worrying About Problems Sugar Can Cause

Aired October 31, 2002 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Halloween! Kids thinking about how they're going to fill up their bags tonight. Parents worrying about the problems sugar can cause, such as cavities, hyperactivity and obesity. How much sugar is too much? And is hard candy worse than the chewy types? Here to help us sort out all the tricks and the treats is our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Good morning, Sanjay.

Now don't get this wrong, I love this holiday, but I'm not going to take too much pleasure in tucking the kids in at midnight tonight after the sugar rushes.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Here again, I have to be the bad guy and talk about the badness of candy and all that sort of thing. This is not new news, I guess, Paula, in some way, people have known for a long time that sugar is particularly bad for your teeth. That's not that new information. Carbohydrates are also bad for your teeth. Bacteria love to feed on these carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in all sorts of different foods. So there is a couple of things to sort of think about.

Today as your kids go out and stocking up on all of the candy. I know your kids are trick or treating as well, Paula.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has several suggestions. These are sort of commonsensical suggestions as to what you can do with your kids to possibly make it a little bit healthier. Take a look at them there. Try to get them food ahead of time. Hard enough to actually get them out trick or treating, to give them a meal ahead of time. Purchase some non-food treats, like the big erasers, things like that. Your house will get egged and will get toilet-papered, but you can do that anyway.

Check your treats at home before eating. Tampering is a very rare problem, but that is something still to think about, and make sure items that actually could cause choking, like small hard candies, things like that, they don't find their ways into the hands of young people.

Also brushing your teeth, Paula, again, two minutes at a time, three times a day. Use a flouridinated (ph) mouth rinse afterwards. Those will all help with the tooth decay, which is a real problem, if you eat candy.

Let me just say a couple of things about that. One is, it's more about how frequently you eat the candy as opposed to how much. You can certainly get a bad tummy ache if you eat too much of it at any given time, but if you're constantly sucking on candy all day long, that tends to be a bigger problem as far as actually causing tooth decay -- Paula.

ZAHN: So advice for the kid that overdoes it.

GUPTA: I told you so.

ZAHN: That's the famous taped message from parents all across America.

GUPTA: No, but the gastritis or just getting a stomach ache is a problem after that. Certainly if that happens you want to try and focus on some bland foods for the kids, toast, bananas, things like that, try to get them plenty of fluids if they're actually feeling sick. Clear liquids actually will help the most. That is sort of common sense, just like you treat any other stomach ache.

ZAHN: You know what I'm more concerned about, I saw some statistics you put together showing four times the number of kids are hurt on Halloween night from pedestrian accidents. That's pretty scary.

GUPTA: Right, and that is the bigger concern, there's no question about it. It's dark outside oftentimes when kids are still trick or treating. You've got these small kids, they're small stature, they're very impulsive; they like to run across the street and stuff like that. So for kids, they have to be careful with that. Go with an adult.

They also trip over their costumes. If the costumes aren't hemmed properly, they can actually trip over those. They have those masks so that they can't see as well, trip up stairs, things like that.

So actually four times as many accidents. You can see the suggestions there for Halloween safety, all things that we already know for the most part, but just good to be reminded of as well, Paula.

ZAHN: So, doctor, if you were to follow your own advice, I'm just curious what you might be handing out to the kiddies tonight.

GUPTA: I have got my own little props here I've brought. I give Rice Krispy Treats and raisins, you can see here.

ZAHN: Those are not non-food items. You're not going to hand out erasers tonight?

GUPTA: No erasers. I don't want my house to get egged, and the candy corn of Halloween -- the fruitcake of Halloween, candy corn.

ZAHN: Now that stuff can make you sick if you eat too much of it, believe me.

GUPTA: All of it can. Candy is bad for you. Absolutely. ZAHN: Some is better for you than others. All right, Sanjay, have a happy Halloween, Sanjay, and do be generous tonight because I don't want to get see your windows get soaped.

GUPTA: I'm a generous guy.

ZAHN: Thanks, doctor.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 31, 2002 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Halloween! Kids thinking about how they're going to fill up their bags tonight. Parents worrying about the problems sugar can cause, such as cavities, hyperactivity and obesity. How much sugar is too much? And is hard candy worse than the chewy types? Here to help us sort out all the tricks and the treats is our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Good morning, Sanjay.

Now don't get this wrong, I love this holiday, but I'm not going to take too much pleasure in tucking the kids in at midnight tonight after the sugar rushes.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Here again, I have to be the bad guy and talk about the badness of candy and all that sort of thing. This is not new news, I guess, Paula, in some way, people have known for a long time that sugar is particularly bad for your teeth. That's not that new information. Carbohydrates are also bad for your teeth. Bacteria love to feed on these carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found in all sorts of different foods. So there is a couple of things to sort of think about.

Today as your kids go out and stocking up on all of the candy. I know your kids are trick or treating as well, Paula.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has several suggestions. These are sort of commonsensical suggestions as to what you can do with your kids to possibly make it a little bit healthier. Take a look at them there. Try to get them food ahead of time. Hard enough to actually get them out trick or treating, to give them a meal ahead of time. Purchase some non-food treats, like the big erasers, things like that. Your house will get egged and will get toilet-papered, but you can do that anyway.

Check your treats at home before eating. Tampering is a very rare problem, but that is something still to think about, and make sure items that actually could cause choking, like small hard candies, things like that, they don't find their ways into the hands of young people.

Also brushing your teeth, Paula, again, two minutes at a time, three times a day. Use a flouridinated (ph) mouth rinse afterwards. Those will all help with the tooth decay, which is a real problem, if you eat candy.

Let me just say a couple of things about that. One is, it's more about how frequently you eat the candy as opposed to how much. You can certainly get a bad tummy ache if you eat too much of it at any given time, but if you're constantly sucking on candy all day long, that tends to be a bigger problem as far as actually causing tooth decay -- Paula.

ZAHN: So advice for the kid that overdoes it.

GUPTA: I told you so.

ZAHN: That's the famous taped message from parents all across America.

GUPTA: No, but the gastritis or just getting a stomach ache is a problem after that. Certainly if that happens you want to try and focus on some bland foods for the kids, toast, bananas, things like that, try to get them plenty of fluids if they're actually feeling sick. Clear liquids actually will help the most. That is sort of common sense, just like you treat any other stomach ache.

ZAHN: You know what I'm more concerned about, I saw some statistics you put together showing four times the number of kids are hurt on Halloween night from pedestrian accidents. That's pretty scary.

GUPTA: Right, and that is the bigger concern, there's no question about it. It's dark outside oftentimes when kids are still trick or treating. You've got these small kids, they're small stature, they're very impulsive; they like to run across the street and stuff like that. So for kids, they have to be careful with that. Go with an adult.

They also trip over their costumes. If the costumes aren't hemmed properly, they can actually trip over those. They have those masks so that they can't see as well, trip up stairs, things like that.

So actually four times as many accidents. You can see the suggestions there for Halloween safety, all things that we already know for the most part, but just good to be reminded of as well, Paula.

ZAHN: So, doctor, if you were to follow your own advice, I'm just curious what you might be handing out to the kiddies tonight.

GUPTA: I have got my own little props here I've brought. I give Rice Krispy Treats and raisins, you can see here.

ZAHN: Those are not non-food items. You're not going to hand out erasers tonight?

GUPTA: No erasers. I don't want my house to get egged, and the candy corn of Halloween -- the fruitcake of Halloween, candy corn.

ZAHN: Now that stuff can make you sick if you eat too much of it, believe me.

GUPTA: All of it can. Candy is bad for you. Absolutely. ZAHN: Some is better for you than others. All right, Sanjay, have a happy Halloween, Sanjay, and do be generous tonight because I don't want to get see your windows get soaped.

GUPTA: I'm a generous guy.

ZAHN: Thanks, doctor.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com