Prevent Tooth Decay by Cutting Down on Sugar Intake to Half

These days, many medical experts and researchers have raised concerns about the intake of free sugars by human beings all around the world. Free sugars are the types of sugars which are added to various types of food products by the manufacturing companies. Some examples of such free sugars are fructose, glucose and sucrose.

Prevent Tooth Decay

Also those sugars which are naturally present in syrups, honey and fruit juices etc. are also termed as free sugars and are harmful due to many reasons.  What these free sugars do is that, even on little consumption, they tend to raise the calorie intake.

Tooth decay caused due to sugar intake

Now one of the biggest harmful effects of sugar to human health is that they lead to tooth decay.  Sugar is proved to be the biggest cause of dental decay and more harmful than the quantity of sugar consumed is the frequency at which the sugar is consumed.

Effect of soda or sugary drinks on dental health

There is large amount of sugar present in sugary drinks, soda, fizzy drinks etc. and these are surely the number 1 culprits as far as dental health is concerned.  If you take a sip of these drinks every few minutes over a large period of time, then you sure are at risk of dental decay. Thus to prevent the decay, it is recommended that one must have sugary drinks or soda juice after having food or after eating dessert. This will minimize the damage caused.

Effect of snacking on dental health

Just like fizzy drinks, even snacking can be harmful for the teeth and if had over a long period of time, can cause tooth decay in the due course of time.  If you have sugary snacks over an extended period of time, then it can develop bacteria in the mouth which will lead to decaying.

So what should one really do to prevent tooth decay?

It is recommended that people must cut down on the intake of sugary foods by about half! Yes, that’s a lot to ask for but research has shown that halving the free sugar consumption can prevent bacteria from decaying the teeth and may also result in better overall dental health. This recommendation has been made by WHO(World health Organisation) itself and has been rooted from the very fact that 60-90% of school going children and almost all the adults have dental cavities which are caused primarily due to consumption of sugar.

WHO also suggests that free sugars must make up for not more than 10% of the total amount of energy intake per day.  The reason why WHO has made these suggestions and recommendations is because it has been found that individuals who consume high quantities of added sugars are at a much more risk of cardiovascular problems and even death due to heart ailments. Other research have also found a connection between type 2 diabetes and high consumption of free sugars or added sugar.