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You would never guess this country consumes the most candy

Americans love candy. We have several holidays where we put the sweet stuff at the center of the celebration — Halloween candy, Easter baskets, candy-filled advent calendars and candy canes. We even have amusement parks dedicated to it. You’d be forgiven for assuming Americans eat more candy than any other country — but you’d also be wrong. There is one country that beats out the U.S. in candy consumption: Sweden. A recent study conducted by Jordbruksverket, the Swedish Board of Agriculture, found that Sweden has the highest candy consumption per capita in the world. Citizens consume on average 35 pounds of it every year. Doing the math … that’s about a half pound every. single. week. The sugar consumption is about three times more than what the World Health Organization recommends. Candy culture in Sweden is strong. “Lördagsgodis” is a Swedish word that literally means “Saturday candy.” The thinking went that…

8 Christmas traditions from around the world

In today’s globalized economy, the Christmas holiday can seem a little too expected. Images of Santa Claus, decorated evergreen trees, and candy canes be found all over the world. But if you dig a little deeper, you can still find people celebrating the beloved holiday in their own special way — particularly with food. While you’re tearing up tissue paper and singing festive songs this Christmas morning, consider what people around the world might be doing to add to their holiday cheer. https://www.instagram.com/p/BcqXOPkn9mb/?tagged=japankfc Japan Christmas is not an official holiday in Japan, but that doesn’t stop people from waiting in long lines at their local KFC. So why all the love for the fast food joint? December 25 is the one day a year KFCs in Japan serve “Christmas Chicken” — a tradition that dates back to a wildly successful ad campaign from 1974. The campaign was so successful, the people still flock to KFC…

Women who drink beer have a lower risk of heart attack

Good news for women who love a good pint of brew: beer may actually help protect women against the risk of heart attacks and add to overall happiness levels in the long run. The team found that women who regularly drank one or two beers per week were 30 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack than their teetotaling or heavy drinking peers. The longterm study was conducted at Sahlgrenska Academy, a research center at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. A total of 1,500 women between the ages of 38 to 60 (in 1968-1969) participated. Between 1968 and 2000, the women were required to complete a form revealing their total consumption of alcohol including wine, beer and liquor as well as any diseases, illnesses or conditions they had. The team of scientists cross-referenced the data to look for patterns and trends between alcohol consumption and the risk of certain…