Sugar filled

Our 8th graders have been learning about Nutrition. We have been talking about nutrient dense foods and empty calories. Through a class discussion the day after Halloween we were left with some big questions:

1. How much candy do most kids collect while Trick or Treating? 

2. How much sugar is in all of that candy?

3. Do younger or older kids receive more candy and why might that be? 

We sent out an online survey and collected responses for four days. The survey reached several different families with data tracked from 40 kids collections. 

From the data we realized that the average child collects 104 pieces of candy. The younger children (8 and under) only collected 72 pieces on average. However, the older kids (9+) received more than double that with 145 pieces of candy. The girls concluded that the difference might be in part to older kids trick or treating for a longer period of time. 

But really how much sugar is that??? 

Our next big question was a little harder. We had to figure out the average sugar content of Halloween candy (9.4grams).  The numbers were shocking! We measured out the sugar to see what that much sugar looked like.

Here are a few pictures for perspective

Older kids receive 1,363 grams of sugar from their 145 pieces of candy

Our younger kids collected 676.8 grams for their 72 pieces of candy. 

What about the average kid? They collected 977.6 grams for their 104 pieces. 

Note that a single fun size candy bar contains 9.4 grams of sugar and though numbers vary, the max amount of daily sugar intake is around 25 grams. 

What do you think about the amount of sugar kids are consuming???