In recent years, many popular snacks have become smaller in size. Though it may have been more about money than health.

For Mars Inc., the decision to do away with “king-size” items is all about health and nutrition. The candy company, which makes M&Ms, Twix, and Snickers among others, has said that it intends to stop selling products that contain more than 250 calories per serving.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the initiative was laid out in 2012 with plans to stop shipping out the king-size version of their popular candies by the end of 2013.

Their king-size candies were probably never meant to be consumed all at once or even all by one person. But for those who did, they were taking in a whopping 510 calories with the king-size Snickers bar alone.

That’s more than ¼ the average calories a person is expected to eat in an entire day!

Mars, makers of Snickers, 3 Muskateers, Twix ect, cut their bars by 11%, calls it cutting calories. Tanks for nuttin! http://t.co/tX6DMUy9y4

— Larry Koss (@kossman) April 23, 2013

Calories aren’t the only concern for Mars. The company also intends to cut back on sodium levels by as much as 25 percent by 2015.

“Mars has a broad-based commitment to health and nutrition,” said the company in a statement. They added that this commitment “includes a number of global initiatives.”

Perhaps that initiative will be to be mindful of the serving sizes made available to customers. The soon to be defunct king-size Snickers only had a serving size of ⅓ the entire product. Let’s be honest: Exactly how many people break or cut off a third of a candy bar in order to be “calorie conscious?”

It may be up to Mars to simply sell their products in portions more agreeable with what’s healthiest for consumers rather than trust these persons to always check the portions and serving sizes.

A big question with regard to this change has got to come down to the pricing.

As I said, it’s not beyond companies to shrink their serving sizes but raise their prices to make a profit.

While Mars Inc.’s aim may be noble, if prices on the tinier versions of their chocolate go up, people may pass on their candy for reasons having nothing to do with health.

Image via Wikimedia Commons