Buried under a mountain of Halloween candy brought home by the children or left unclaimed by others' trick-or-treaters? It's no wonder: Americans, having rediscovered their sweet teeth, are on a new sugar binge and candy makers are raking it in again.

After dipping for several years beginning in 2000 - a result, perhaps, of earnest new millennium resolutions? - confectionery sales are climbing.

Total sales volume grew 4.6 percent last year, to just under 6.5 billion pounds of chocolates, granola bars, licorice whips and gum, though that is still below levels in the late 1990's, when Americans bought nearly 7 billion pounds.

But the value of candy sales in the United States last year, $16.9 billion, was a record, by far.

Even with the country's growing population, which was estimated to have surpassed 300 million last month, per capita consumption and spending on sweets are climbing.

Good news in Hershey, Pa., perhaps, but not so welcome among health professionals battling the nation's obesity and diabetes problems.