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Updated: November 2, 2011 10:36AM

Q. My husband and I have a huge stash of leftover Halloween candy tempting us. Most of it’s just sugar, so is it really that bad? We’re great brushers!

A. Nah, there’s nothing wrong with sugar, as long as you don’t mind your arteries clogging, your cancer risks rising and your skin aging faster than iPhones sell.

How come? We’ll keep this short, if not sweet: 1. When you eat more sugar than your body can burn, it messes up your proteins; for instance, it stops one from delivering oxygen to your tissues. Then your liver repackages excess sugar into fat and dumps it into your bloodstream, where it clogs up your arteries. 2. There’s growing evidence that frequent, large doses of sugar are toxic to certain cells, causing damage that leads to cancer. One example: People who eat a sugar-heavy diet are 70 percent more likely to develop deadly pancreatic cancer than those who shun the sweet stuff. 3. Too many sweets accelerate skin aging because sugar is attracted to collagen proteins. Normally, collagen keeps skin elastic, supple and well-supported. But when collagen hooks up with sugar, it can’t do its job properly. Your face ends up looking a bit like a pumpkin.

Q. I recently had a blood test. My estrogen level is 42, which my doctor says is high for my age (76). Is that a worry? My LDL cholesterol is 97, my HDL’s 54, and my triglycerides are 126. I eat almost no salt, sugar or processed foods, do yoga and sleep seven or eight hours a night.

A. If you were our patient ... well, we’d be thrilled. What a healthy lifestyle. Way to go! We’d also worry (a little) about your triglycerides, not your estrogen or, actually, your estradiol, the most important form of estrogen and what blood tests measure. Before menopause, estradiol normally swings widely, from 30 to 400 pg/ML. After menopause, 0 to 30 is normal, but 42 is no biggie. In fact, it may be a sign that your lifestyle is keeping you young.

While having your triglycerides under 150 counts as “normal,” we don’t think 150 is healthy enough. Triglycerides are like hurricanes: The fewer you have, the better. We’d like to see yours under 100. These bad fats go after your arteries, blood pressure and heart, just like lousy LDL cholesterol does, and aging makes you more vulnerable.

The fix? Walk 30 minutes every day and take 900 mg of DHA omega-3 supplements, ideally made from algae, not fish oil (algae’s where fish get their omega-3s).

Q. My wife always gets her flu shot around now, but she just started six days of oral steroids to ease a bout of sciatica. The package insert says, “Immunization procedures should not be undertaken in patients on corticosteroids.” Should she put off her flu shot?

A. Good for you for reading the package insert. Delay the flu shot until three days after your wife finishes her Rx. The main reason: The steroids could weaken her response to the vaccine, making it less effective.

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