Less Sugar Leads To Better Teeth And Eyes

[Anonymous]

Eating fewer refined carbohydrates will likely reduce risk of cavities, but also slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Reported in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Oct, 2007, Tufts University researchers states that people who consumed the most refined carbohydrates were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AMD than those who consumed the least. According to the authors, public health officials believe the condition could spur a public health crisis in the United States by 2020, when they predict the cases of AMD-related vision loss will have doubled to three million.

AMD results in partial or total blindness in 7 to 15% of the elderly, according to the Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group. “Dietary changes may be the most practical and cost-effective prevention method to combat progression of AMD,” says Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the USDA HNRCA. Similarly, it is well accepted that dietary changes may also be the most practical and cost-effecting prevention method to combat cavities.

The AMD study, builds on a recent analysis by Taylor and colleagues that found men and women older than 55 who consumed diets with higher-than-average dietary glycemic index foods appeared to have an increased risk for both early and later stages of AMD.

Dietary glycemic index is a scale used to determine how quickly carbohydrates are broken down into blood sugar, or glucose. Foods with a high glycemic index are associated with a faster rise and subsequent drop in blood sugar. Refined carbohydrates like white bread and white rice have high glycemic indices. Whole wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread are examples of foods with low glycemic indices.

In the present study, Taylor and colleagues analyzed diet questionnaires completed by 4,757 non-diabetic men and women participating in the nationwide Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS). The eight-year AREDS study enrolled participants between the ages of 55 and 80 with varying stages of AMD. Taylor and colleagues examined the participants’ carbohydrate intake over a one-year period and used the data to calculate the participants’ dietary glycemic index.

“Our data showed those people in the high-glycemic-index group were at greater risk of AMD progression, especially those already in the late stages,” says first author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, and assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. “Participants who consumed the most refined carbohydrates were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AMD than the group that consumed the least.”

I “No one has been able to identify an effective noninvasive intervention that will slow the progression of AMD” says Taylor. “We feel we have identified a risk factor that could postpone the debilitating loss of vision with very little economic or personal hardship. Based on our data, limiting refined carbohydrate intake, such as by limiting sweetened drinks or exchanging white bread for whole wheat, in at-risk elderly could reduce the number of advanced AMD cases by 8 percent in five years. This can equate to saving the sight of approximately 100,000 people.”

The message from this AMD study is to reiterate the well-accepted proposition that high dietary sugar is detrimental to dental, eye and, in fact, general health. By increasing food with low glycemic index, such as wheat bread, and reducing those with high glycemic index can bring about better dental and general health.

        

[Anonymous]

Killing Your Teeth Softly And Sweetly With Soft Drinks

Phosphoric acid and citric acid from soft drinks combined with acid generated from sugar by oral bacteria are softly and sweetly killing children’s and adult’s teeth and their general health. According to an article published in Northwest Dentistry Americans spend over $54 billion per year to buy 14 billion gallons of soft drinks. On the average each man, woman and child consume more than 56 gallons per year, or one-and-a-half 12 ounce cans per day. This horrendous amount of nutrition-less intake has caused the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to urge all schools to ban the sale of soft drinks that are sold via vending machines, even though such sales substantially increase revenue for the schools. AAP is concerned that habitual consumption of sugar displaces the principal source of calcium, which is found in milk. Lack of calcium during the growing years increases the risk of osteoporosis in adulthood. But just as serious is AAP’s concern that heavy consumption of soft drinks increases the risk of obesity, the most prevalent medical condition in childhood.

Dentists are becoming just as concerned that over-consumption of soft drinks by children and teenagers may increase the rate of dental disease in the American population. It is well-known that sugar in the oral cavity leads to cavities. However, it is not the sugar that directly inflicts the damage. It’s the acidic by-product of bacterial fermentation of dietary sugars that demineralizes the enamel, which forms the hard outer shell of the tooth. Over time this demineralization process dissolves the enamel, leaving behind what is known as a cavity. This process of enamel demineralization is more likely to occur between the ages of 8 and 17 because enamel has not been completely “hardened” as yet by saliva which bathes the teeth with acid-resistant ions. Thus dietary sugars of any kind expose the child/teenager to a higher risk of dental cavities.

What is not generally known, however, is that the acids contained in soft drinks can do just as much damage to the enamel, even in the absence of sugar. These acids directly dissolve immature enamel and accelerate the dissolution of mineral matter in the enamel. So even acids from “diet” soft drinks in large quantities over time can lead to cavities.

To minimize the risk soft drinks softening the enamel the following are recommended:

Drink soft drinks in moderation
Swish out your mouth with water to dilute the sugar and acid, or, better yet, brush and floss your teeth thoroughly when possible.
Use a straw to keep the fluid from your teeth.
Never consume soft drinks (or juices) at bedtime.
Don’t sip; gulp it down to decrease time of acidic exposure.

        

[Anonymous]

Consumption of excess of sweetened things leads to resistance to them can even lead to Diabetes

        

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