This question is interesting to me because I have an immunological disorder. It is also timely considering it is Halloween and the threat of H1N1 and a sleu of other viral sicknesses are in the air. A lot of children consuming large amounts of candy could be putting themselves at risk for colds and flu later this week.

I have been reading these types of articles for awhile now, and the main thing that I get is that sugar is an inflammatory agent, which means the body perceives it as a harmful substance. In a person that consumes excessive amounts of sugar, the body's resources become so consumed with fighting off the invading threat, i.e. sugar, that there is not enough immunologic response to fight off other invaders such as viruses and bacteria.

It is interesting though, that when I went back and attempted to find specific studies to link to this, I could not ever find them. I browsed through pubmed for awhile and the JAMA database, and basically, trying to find things there is quite a hassle. The excessive medical jargon that many of these articles use make it difficult for a layman to find viable information.

However, I did find two recent interesting articles on the subject.
There is an article in USA Today about this which references certain studies and other articles, but there are no links in the story or on the site about the studies mentioned.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2009-10-04-your-health_N.htm?csp=34

Another article, which was sited in the above article, sites a specific 1973 study on the topic, but again, no direct links to that study.
http://www.examiner.com/x-23206-Denver-Healthy-Trends-Examiner~y2009m9d14-Worried-about-the-Swine-Flu-Avoid-Sugar

Here is an AHA health statement which discusses the effects of sugar consumption on the heart and lists other health complications of sugar, but still yet, no specific links to any original studies.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/106/4/523

As mentioned by Kim Painter in USA Today, Dr. Sears has done quite a bit of work in this field, and has various information compiled from studies on his site, but I went there too and was still unable to find direct links to the specific studies.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T045000.asp

Hopefully, this will provide you with a little bit more information.

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