The
amount of sugar Americans eat is scarier than the slim chance they'll get
Ebola.
As
airlines, cruise ships, and hospitals cope with waves of Ebola jitters, I’m
wondering whether the panic the deadly virus is inducing will distort Halloween
traditions this year.
No,
I’m not talking about Ebola-related costumes.
There
are real precautions we must take, but at this point the Ebola hysteria is
overblown.
If
Americans are worried about
riding on airplanes with strangers, surely some folks will have
qualms about sending their children door to door to strangers’ homes to collect
candy.
And,
if you’re worried your kids will get Ebola from trick-or-treating, please get a
grip.
For
those who are truly exposed to the disease, especially in the affected West
African nations, Ebola is terrifying. A deadly illness that causes bleeding out
of every orifice is scarier than any costume you will see on Halloween.
But
only a handful of people have been treated for Ebola in the United States so
far. And fortunately we are equipped with far better health infrastructure than
Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea if more cases do pop up.
Ebola isn’t
an airborne virus like the flu. The people who get it are
typically relatives or health workers who come into direct contact with
patients’ bodily fluids while caring for them or handling their bodies after
death.
Also,
people who get Ebola aren’t contagious prior to showing symptoms. That means
anyone who is contagious won’t be well enough to stand at the door handing out
Halloween candy. They’ll be in bed, very sick.
Unfortunately,
the Dallas hospital that encountered the first Ebola case in the United States
was unprepared to keep its workers safe.
Even after Thomas Eric Duncan was
admitted to Texas Presbyterian Hospital, the staff providing his care didn’t wear
hazmat suits until his Ebola diagnosis was confirmed — two days
after his admission.
No doubt, all hospitals will learn from their
well-publicized mistakes.
Trick-or-treaters
are at a much greater risk of catching the flu. But that’s not the biggest
health risk they face.
The
spookiest part of Halloween is the candy.
Not
candy laced with arsenic or bearing hidden razor blades. Just candy. Because
Americans eat more than
double the recommended amount of added sugars each day. Eating
too much sugar increases the risk you’ll get diabetes and other diet-related
chronic diseases.
Of
course, one binge a year on Halloween won’t hurt anyone — but that’s not what
Americans actually do. We eat sugar in our treats and sugar in everything else
too (ketchup, salad dressing, bread, fruit snacks, etc.).
If
you want to save yourself and your kids from a scary disease, stop fretting
about Ebola and eat less sugar. Diabetes and heart disease are truly worth
getting frightened about. Even if you wait until after Halloween, cutting back
on sugar will improve your family’s health.
OtherWords
columnist Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food
System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org