Diabetes and Candy: How Much Can You Eat?
DiabetesType 2 Diabetes

What Candy Can People With Diabetes Eat, and How Much Is Safe?

What Candy Can People With Diabetes Eat, and How Much Is Safe?
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Updated on November 6, 2025
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Candy is definitely not a health food, but experts say that it doesn’t need to be completely off-limits if you have diabetes.

“I encourage people with diabetes to remember that a diabetes diet is really just a healthier diet,” says Rainie Robinson, RD, CDCES, a director of clinical nutrition at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama.

Moderation is the key. Robinson suggests thinking of candy as a dessert rather than a snack.

“Changing that mentality allows people to think about eating candy in smaller portions,” she says. “We are typically fuller from the meal and therefore eat less candy or sweets than we would have before.”

If you can limit your overall added sugar intake, a little candy can fit into a diabetes-friendly diet. And for people with a risk of low blood sugar, candy can even be an occasional medical necessity.

What Candy Can People With Diabetes Eat, and How Much Is Safe?

People with diabetes don’t need to restrict themselves from the simple pleasure of enjoying sweets entirely. Knowing which candies are best and the quantity in which they can be safely consumed can provide guilt-free freedom.
What Candy Can People With Diabetes Eat, and How Much Is Safe?

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How Much Candy Can You Eat?

You can enjoy some sweets and hit your nutrition goals, but only if the rest of your snacking and eating habits remain on target.

“Our bodies need carbohydrates throughout the day — and candy can be a delicious, festive, enjoyable source of it on occasion,” says Meg Salvia, PhD, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, nutritionist and diabetes educator in private practice.

But candy is high in added sugar, a highly processed ingredient that rapidly raises your blood sugar and can negatively affect your health. In excess, sugar can raise your risk of high blood glucose, chronic inflammation, weight gain, liver disease, and cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s current dietary guidelines recommend that adults consume no more than 10 percent of their daily calories in the form of added sugar. For many adults, that’s not much more than a single can of soda.

 The American Heart Association sets an even stricter goal of only 6 percent of daily calories.

For a 2,000 calorie diet, that 6 percent limit allows you only 30 grams of added sugar per day, about the amount in many standard-size candy bars.

 But a candy bar will only sneak in under that upper limit if you can completely eliminate added sugar from the rest of your diet. This can be challenging, given how much hidden sugar is found even in prepared foods such as condiments, protein bars, and energy drinks.

Sugar-Free Sweets

There’s a huge variety of sugar-free sweets and candies available these days. These alternatively sweetened treats are unlikely to raise your blood sugar levels, and foods with artificial sweeteners may also have fewer calories than those with sugar.

Artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes are no longer considered a stand-alone solution for people with diabetes, however, and experts caution against relying too heavily on them.

 Artificial sweeteners are associated with a host of negative side effects, such as increased insulin resistance and an impaired gut microbiome.

Having too much of them also can be uncomfortable: Candies with artificial sweeteners that contain sugar alcohols such as xylitol and erythritol can cause an upset stomach, especially in large amounts. Some may raise blood sugar, as well.

Sugar-free sweets aren’t necessarily low in carbohydrates either. These products may contain flour and other starches. Always check the nutrition label before trying a new treat.

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David Korsunsky
Founder/CEO, Heads Up Health
"It was not until many, many years later in life where I started to realize a lot of that food was having really disastrous effects on my blood sugar."
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Candy Can Help With Low Blood Sugar

If you use glucose-lowering medications that carry a risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), candy can actually be an important medical treatment.

Insulin and sulfonylureas can cause your blood sugar to dip below a healthy range, and you may be instructed to keep a source of fast-acting carbohydrates on hand at all times if you use these medications.

You can generally resolve hypoglycemia, which causes symptoms such as shakiness, hungriness, and irritability, by quickly eating or drinking something sugary. The American Diabetes Association recommends treating hypoglycemia with the “15/15 rule”:

  • Take about 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates.
  • Check your blood sugar after 15 minutes.
  • Treat yourself with another 15 grams if your levels haven’t increased to a safer range yet.

If you don’t address it, hypoglycemia can become dangerous, eventually leading to diabetic seizures. At less severe levels, it can impair your judgment and ability to think clearly when performing tasks such as driving.

Candy is a terrific option to raise your blood sugar quickly, especially candies that are almost entirely made of sugar, such as jelly beans and gummy bears. More complex candies that contain richer ingredients such as chocolate, caramel, or nuts may not raise your blood sugar as quickly because of their fiber, protein, and fat content.

Tips for Eating Candy With Diabetes

It’s often possible to incorporate sweets into your diabetes management while staying safe. Consider a few strategies:

  • Make dessert a special occasion, not a daily habit.
  • Choose sweets that feature healthier ingredients, such as real fruit or dark chocolate.
  • Keep portions small. “For a lot of people, measuring portions is the tricky part, so I would recommend sticking with ‘fun-size’ portions and walking away from the candy bowl after a treat,” Robinson says.
  • Think about dessert as just one element of your meal. If you’re planning to eat something sugary for dessert, you might want to skip starches such as rice, pasta, or potatoes at dinner.

Diane Norwood, RD, CDCES, who is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, also suggests checking your blood sugar level before eating any sweets.

“If the blood sugar level is already higher than recommended, it is not a good idea to eat high-carbohydrate foods, including candy,” she says.

Experimenting with your blood sugar meter or a continuous glucose monitor can help you determine which candies are less likely to send your glucose out of range. Norwood says that even if your blood sugar level is normal, it’s still a good idea to test it right before eating the candy, then again two hours later, to determine if the portion size was acceptable. Doing so will also tell you whether you need additional insulin to correct high blood sugar if you’re insulin-dependent.

The Takeaway

  • Candy doesn’t need to be off-limits for people with diabetes, but it’s important to enjoy it in moderation, as part of a balanced diet.
  • Candies with artificial sweeteners are a potential alternative, though they may contain sugar alcohols that can raise blood sugar and cause side effects, such as digestive discomfort.
  • If you are taking medications that may lead to low blood sugar, simple candies such as gummy bears or jelly beans may help resolve low blood-sugar issues quickly.
  • Generally, it’s a good idea to keep desserts to a minimum and treat them like any element of your meal, choosing healthy ingredients and small portions.

Resources We Trust

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. The Sweet Danger of Sugar. Harvard Health Publishing. January 6, 2022.
  2. Get the Facts: Added Sugars. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 5, 2024.
  3. Added Sugar. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. April 2022.
  4. Added Sugars. American Heart Association. August 2, 2024.
  5. Total Sugar: Abridged List Ordered by Nutrient Content in Household Measure. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2018.
  6. Spotting Hidden Sugars in Everyday Foods. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. June 17, 2024.
  7. Artificial Sweeteners: Any Effect on Blood Sugar? Mayo Clinic. February 18, 2025.
  8. Ilizuka K. Is the Use of Artificial Sweeteners Beneficial for Patients With Diabetes Mellitus? The Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Sweeteners. Nutrients. October 22, 2022.
  9. Okoro FO et al. Artificial Sweeteners and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Review of Current Developments and Future Research Directions. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications. February 2025.
  10. What You Should Know About Sugar Alcohols. Cleveland Clinic. June 17, 2024.
  11. What Are Sugar Alcohols? American Diabetes Association. January 27, 2025.
  12. Low Blood Glucose (Hypoglycemia). American Diabetes Association.
  13. Treatment of Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 15, 2024.
  14. Can People with Diabetes Eat Dessert? American Diabetes Association. February 13, 2025.
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Reyna Franco, RDN, is a New York City–based dietitian-nutritionist, certified specialist in sports dietetics, and certified personal trainer. She is a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and has a master's degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Columbia University.

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