HK CWB Park Lane basement shop IKEA food Saturday Candies display Dec-2015 DSC

''Lördagsgodis'' (Swedish) or ''lørdagsgodis'' and ''lørdagsgodteri'' (Norwegian), ( or "Saturday candy") is a Norwegian and Swedish tradition of children eating

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

or sweets mainly or only on Saturdays. The tradition started as a health recommendation in 1959 following the government-funded Vipeholm experiments, where patients of Vipeholm Hospital for the

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

, Sweden, were unknowingly fed large amounts of sweets to see whether a high-sugar diet would cause

tooth decay Tooth decay, also known as caries,The word 'caries' is a mass noun, and is not a plural of 'carie'.'' is the breakdown of teeth due to acids produced by bacteria. The resulting cavities may be a number of different colors, from yellow to black ...

. Over time, what was once a recommendation has turned into a routine for both children and adults to eat candy on Saturdays, as an event to look forward to during the week. It is common for Swedes to buy ''lördagsgodis'' by weight from candy walls in grocery stores. Candy consumption started increasing in

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and by

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, Sweden had the highest per capita candy consumption in the world. , the Swedish government, facing high candy consumption and in effort to improve public health was considering enforcing Saturday candy. Such deliberations were being met with criticism from groups who instead supported a cap on consumption.

References

{{reflist Culture of Sweden Saturday Candy