As it turns out, you really can overdose on candy—or, more precisely, black licorice.  Black licorice is an old fashioned treat that can be harmful if you eat too much. If you’re 40 or older, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks could cause an irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia).

Days before the biggest candy eating holiday of the year (Halloween) , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages moderation if you enjoy snacking on the old fashioned favorite.  So, if you’re getting your stash ready for Halloween, here’s some advice from FDA:

Women who take angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors to treat high blood pressure in the first trimester of their pregnancies are at no greater risk of having babies with birth defects than are women who take other types of high blood pressure medication or who take no blood pressure drugs, according to a new study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Contrary to popular belief that estrogen is a risk factor for stroke at all ages, researchers found that the sex hormone actually may prevent strokes in premature or early menopausal women. For the research, published in the journal Menopause, Mayo Clinic scientists analyzed seven other studies to determine how premature or early menopause is associated with stroke.

They found that women who had their ovaries removed before age 50 were more likely to suffer a stroke than women who did not have a bilateral oophorectomy before age 50. But hormone therapy seemed to lower the increased stroke risk for the first group of women, suggesting that a lack of estrogen is linked to the greater risk.

In addition, the age of menopause onset was more important to stroke risk than whether menopause was natural or induced, with earlier onset menopause connected to higher stroke risk.

Smoking is definitely a risk factor for heart disease but until recently it was not known if this risk was higher in women.   Study results published in Lancet in August 2011 suggest that the risk of heart disease due to smoking is higher in women.