Using sweets as medicines /Usando las golosinas como medicamentos [ENG/ESP]

English
Sweets are small snacks whose main ingredient or high percentage is sugar. The first treats made by man were the candies that were made with honey, making a paste of ground cereals, fruit pulp, and honey. This mixture was left to dry and served as food for travelers on long journeys.


However, according to historical records, the Sumerians (3000 B.C.) were the first to start using "candies" as medicine, making a mixture that included mint, honey, and bicarbonate, to cure indigestion. Simultaneously, the Egyptians elaborated candies to fight coughs, whose main ingredient was peperine and citrus fruits. So these ancient peoples were the first to prove that honey was a good vehicle where the active principles of plants could be mixed and easily consumed by the patient.

By the year 250 B.C. the "candies or sweets" began to be made of sugar thanks to the fact that in India this ingredient began to be refined. In later years, sugar reached Europe where it continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages to make candies or syrups in which medicines were dissolved for those with health conditions.

Man's taste for sweetness dates back many centuries. Therefore, manufacturing medicines with the appearance of candy is a practice used to gain acceptance among children. For example, it is typical to find candies such as gummy bears for pharmacological purposes. Many of these presentations have vitamins and minerals necessary for children as is the case of Vitamin C and Zing. Citrus gummies in the shape of worms or lifesavers are also used for this purpose.

Other candies with pharmacological purposes are conventional candies which may contain calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, among the most important micronutrients. This type of substance can also be found in the presentation of chocolate bars.

Another presentation of medicines with sweet flavor is syrups. This presentation is not very attractive to children compared to those in the form of candy. Many children from an early age know that a syrup represents medicine and sometimes reject it, but this is good since most of the medicines with controlled doses come in the form of syrups. Such is the case of antipyretics, antibiotics, and B complex among the most outstanding ones.

As parents, we should be aware of where we keep this type of medicine in the form of candy. Unsupervised consumption can be detrimental to the child's health. We must always explain to our children that even though they taste delicious, they must be given by an adult. The child must recognize which is the place in the home where conventional candies are kept those that do not represent a risk. In this way, he/she creates criteria of what does not represent danger and what does.