Should you let your kids gorge on Halloween candy?

By Jill Castle

Updated 2:47 PM ET, Fri October 30, 2015

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

Every year, trick-or-treat sacks are full of familiar candy: Hershey bars, Snickers minis, Necco wafers and SweeTarts, for example. Which makes you wonder: Whatever happened to ...? Bar None, for example, was introduced by Hershey in 1987 and had chocolate wafers with peanuts and chocolate cream. The recipe was changed in the '90s, and the bar was discontinued in 1997. Here are some other candies you can't get anymore (at least in the United States):

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

These days, Beech-Nut is best known for its baby-food products. But in the early and mid-20th century, the brand was one of the leading purveyors of chewing gum. You can still find its Fruit Stripe gum -- made by a different company -- but the mint flavors are no longer.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

Bonkers were Starburst-like chews that featured a fruit filling. Introduced by Nabisco in the '80s, they were phased out a decade later. In 2014, Leaf Brands picked up Bonkers, but the company is still in the process of arranging distribution. One wonders if they'll also bring back the commercials.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

The Butterfinger chocolate bar has been around since the 1920s, and an offshoot -- Butterfinger BBs -- was introduced in the early 1990s, with Bart Simpson as a spokescharacter. Unlike "The Simpsons," however, the ball-shaped chocolate didn't last, and it was discontinued in 2006.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

Choco'Lite, a Nestle product, was introduced in the early '70s. Similar to an Aero bar -- a popular candy overseas -- the chocolate was aerated and included toffee-like crispy chips. But despite strong early sales, by the end of the 1980s, they had vanished. They are much missed.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

The Marathon bar took a "good long time" to get through -- and no wonder, given that it was 8 inches of chocolate-covered caramel. But despite its ubiquity in the 1970s (and that of commercial spokesman Marathon John, played by Patrick Wayne), it was phased out in the 1980s. Maybe it took too long to eat.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

PB Max was peanut butter to the max: The chocolate-covered bar also included oats and a cookie along with peanut butter. But the bar, introduced around 1990, was gone within a few years. These days, there's an active Facebook page devoted to bringing it back.

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The candymakers at Peter Paul were well known for Almond Joy and Mounds. ("Almond Joy's got nuts; Mounds don't,"<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdwVw4KZ_Bc" target="_blank"> the commercials explained</a>.) But for a while there was a third chocolate bar: PowerHouse, which contained peanuts, fudge and caramel. Peter Paul obtained the rights in 1966 <a href="http://www.sugarpressure.com/2009/12/making-history-monday-peter-paul---power-house-candy-bar-wrapper---1970s.html" target="_blank">through a merger with another company</a>. In the late '80s, Peter Paul was bought by Hershey, and somewhere along the way, PowerHouse vanished.

Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

The candymakers at Peter Paul were well known for Almond Joy and Mounds. ("Almond Joy's got nuts; Mounds don't," the commercials explained.) But for a while there was a third chocolate bar: PowerHouse, which contained peanuts, fudge and caramel. Peter Paul obtained the rights in 1966 through a merger with another company. In the late '80s, Peter Paul was bought by Hershey, and somewhere along the way, PowerHouse vanished.

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The Reggie bar was a product of a particular time: late-'70s America, when New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZNTzxVNv24" target="_blank"> hit three home runs in one 1977 World Series game</a>. By Opening Day 1978, Reggie bars were being handed out at the Yankees' home opener (and <a href="http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/reggie-jackson-yankees-candy" target="_blank">thrown on the field in celebration</a>). The round bar, which consisted of caramel and peanuts in milk chocolate, was gone by the early '80s, though it had a short-lived comeback in the early '90s, when Jackson made the Hall of Fame. Technically, you can still get it under its original name: <a href="http://pearsonscandy.com/candy/bun-bar" target="_blank">the Bun bar</a>.

Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

The Reggie bar was a product of a particular time: late-'70s America, when New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in one 1977 World Series game. By Opening Day 1978, Reggie bars were being handed out at the Yankees' home opener (and thrown on the field in celebration). The round bar, which consisted of caramel and peanuts in milk chocolate, was gone by the early '80s, though it had a short-lived comeback in the early '90s, when Jackson made the Hall of Fame. Technically, you can still get it under its original name: the Bun bar.

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Ah, Space Dust. The late '70s candy was an offshoot of Pop Rocks, but both products quickly became the subject of <a href="http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/poprocks.asp" target="_blank">schoolyard urban legends</a>. (You don't want to know what allegedly happened to Mikey!) You can <a href="http://www.pop-rocks.com/about-us/" target="_blank">still buy Pop Rocks</a>, but Space Dust has bitten the ... well, you know.

Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

Ah, Space Dust. The late '70s candy was an offshoot of Pop Rocks, but both products quickly became the subject of schoolyard urban legends. (You don't want to know what allegedly happened to Mikey!) You can still buy Pop Rocks, but Space Dust has bitten the ... well, you know.

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Photos: Candy you can't get anymore

Originally the Nestle Magic Ball, the Wonder Ball was a hollow chocolate ball filled with candy. It was introduced in the '90s, reworked and reintroduced in 2000. But even that edition lasted only until 2004. They do exist online -- now made by Frankford -- but have long disappeared from stores. So much for candy surprises.

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Story highlights

Jill Castle, dietitian: Candy is not great, but OK for kids to eat it at Halloween if there's a plan for portions
She says the trick is to deal with the candy left over after the holiday, and there are several good strategies for that

Jill Castle is a dietitian, nutritionist and childhood nutrition expert. She is the author of "Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete," co-author of "Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School," and creator of "Just the Right Byte," a childhood nutrition blog.

(CNN)I have been through many Halloweens. As a pediatric nutritionist, and a mom to four kids, I have faced the annual candy conundrum: We want our kids to eat healthy things all year round, but on this one day, we allow a mountain of candy into our homes and say: OK, you can eat that. Most of us, at least.

Is this a disastrous idea? It would seem that way at first: Candy is scary for many parents, and for good reason.