Purdue News
Purdue News
|
|
February 26, 1986 The Tooth Fairy Hates RaisinsWest Lafayette, Ind. – The tooth fairy hates sticky raisins--even more than soda pop. And when it comes to sugars, she's not misled by manufacturers touting sugar-free products made from the family of "oses": dextrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, etc. She doesn't smile at many sugar substitutes, either. Just like sucrose, many of these can promote tooth decay. This tooth fairy's spokesman is Jim Daniel, a professor in the Purdue University School of Consumer and Family Sciences' Department of Foods and Nutrition. Daniel leads a team of researchers trying to find a new sugar substitute that is more stable at high temperatures than aspartame but tastes as good. His interest in sugar has spilled over into the tooth-fairy's camp. "Raisins and other sticky fruits are as bad as candy for teeth," says Daniel. "Any fermentable carbohydrate can cause tooth decay." Grabbing a piece of paper, he draws a picture of tooth decay in action. "These little bacteria live in the mouth," he says, drawing angry faces on little circles nestled into a bicuspid. "The bacteria are called streptococcus mutans. They use any fermentable carbohydrate like sugar for a food source. They convert some parts of the carbohydrate into a sticky polysaccharide which coats the teeth and binds things to it, causing plaque. "Some of the carbohydrates are converted into acids. As the acid level increases above a certain point, the enamel on the tooth starts to dissolve and cavities form. It all happens in a 20-minute period." Raisins are especially bad, he says, because they are sticky and cannot be easily flushed away with saliva. That is why a cola is relatively better for your teeth than raisins: The cola doesn't hang around like raisins do. Raisins aren't the only food likely to fool well-intentioned parents, he adds. "An apple a day may keep the doctor away but not the dentist," Daniel says. "Apples have fairly high concentrations of glucose and tend to get wedged between teeth. And many peanut butters also have sugar added, although some substitute dextrose, which is just as hard on teeth." Some sugarless gums also are suspect, expecially those made with sorbitol and manitol, which are sugar alcohols. Most of them, however, likely will be replaced with aspartame, which tastes better, he adds. "Relatively little aspartame is needed to make gum sweet, so it's less likely to promote cavities," Daniel says. "The only problem with aspartame is that it is unstable at high temperatures. That's why you won't find it in Twinkies." Although the list of cavity-causing foods is more extensive than most people suspect, Daniel says there are a few ways to reduce the risk beyond brushing and fluoridation. "Eat your sweets with meals, not between meals," he advises, citing a study by Scandinavian researchers. "People who ate 70 kilograms of fermentable carbohydrates with their meals and 15 kilograms between meals developed more cavities than people who ate 94 kilograms only with their meals. In other words, those who ate less total sugar but snacked just a bit fared worse than those who ate more total sugar and didn't snack." Daniel says he suspects the reason is that when sugar is consumed at the same time as other kinds of foods, especially those high in protein, a complex buffering agent develops that resists changes in the mouth's acidity level. "So if you want to keep the tooth fairy happy with healthy teeth, cut out the snacks, keep a lookout for the 'oses' family and avoid sticky, sweet foods," he advises. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
|
