In a previous overdetermination chronicle, we we're amazed at the bewildering list of things that science links to overeating and, possibly, weight gain. Today, research in the same, odd vein as the "simply looking at fat people makes you overeat" study, claims that eating candy is not linked to weight gain among kids. What a counter-intuitive finding, as CBS News reported:

For the study, published in Food & Nutrition Research, researchers at Louisiana State University tracked the health of more than 11,000 youngsters between the ages of two and 18 from 1999 to 2004. They found that children who ate sweets were 22 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than kids who shunned sweets. Adolescents? Those who ate candy were 26 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than their non-candy-eating counterparts.

Jezebel's Anna North already noted the obvious mixed messages of the finding. And we'd just like to add a quick tally of research on the subject. Linked to overeating and, presumably, weight gain: Overweight friends, thinking too much, playing video games, larger food portions, smaller food portions, late-sleeping, undersleeping, morbid thoughts, a sense of pride, stress, low-calorie foods, fatty foods, eating quickly. Not linked to weight gain: candy.

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Erik Hayden