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Orange Juice May Damage Teeth Enamel

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Some juice is so acidic, it can take part of your teeth with it.

New warning: A U.S. expert says orange juice is so strong it can ‘literally wash away your teeth’

Fruit beverages can cut enamel hardness by 84 per cent causing teeth to erode more than previously thought, according to one U.S. expert.

Dr Yan-Fang Ren, of the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York, said the acid in orange juice ‘is so strong that the tooth is literally washed away’.

Dr Ren and his team made the discovery after studying the effects of over-the-counter teeth whitening products.

He found the effect of six per cent hydrogen peroxide, the common ingredient used for teeth whitening, was ‘insignificant’ compared with acidic fruit juices.

The orange juice markedly cut hardness and increased roughness of tooth enamel.

The researchers used a revolutionary vertical scanning microscope for the first time to see the extensive surface detail on teeth.

It has long been known that fruit juice and carbonated drinks have high acid content and can reduce the strength of enamel.

Dentists have advised some of these drinks should only be consumed with a straw or at the same time as eating food.

But the damaging effects of drinks could be worse than previously thought, according to the article in the Journal of Dentistry.

Weakened and eroded enamel may speed up the wear of the tooth and increase the risk of tooth decay developing and spreading.

Dr Ren said: ‘Most soft drinks, including sodas and fruit juices, are acidic in nature.

‘Our studies demonstrated that the orange juice, as an example, can potentially cause significant erosion of teeth. It’s potentially a very serisevereous problem for people who drink sodas and fruit juices daily.

‘We do not yet have an effective tool to avert the erosive effects, although there are early indications that higher levels of fluoride may help slow down the erosion.’

Dr Ren advises consumers to be aware of the acidic nature of beverages, including sodas, fruit juices, sports and energy drinks.

The longer teeth are in contact with the acidic drinks, the more the erosion will be.

Those who sip their drinks slowly over 20 minutes are more likely to have tooth erosion than those who finish a drink quickly.

Dr Ren said it is important to keep good oral hygiene by brushing teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.

The research comes after a recent study revealed that drinking fruit juice dramatically reduces the effectiveness of drugs used to treat cancer, heart conditions and high blood pressure.

Research has shown that orange, apple and grapefruit juice can also wipe out the benefits of some antibiotics and hay-fever pills.

It is thought the drinks stop drugs from entering the bloodstream and getting to work in the body – possibly rendering them useless.

The potential effects are so serious, researchers warned, that if in doubt patients should swap fruit juices for water when on medication.

Source: Mail Online. 2nd. July. ’09

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Excess Cola Can Paralyze Muscles

Think twice before you take a sip from that cola bottle this summer. Experts are warning that excessive cola consumption can lead to anything from  mild weakness to profound muscle paralysis.
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This is because the cola drinks can cause blood potassium to drop dangerously low, they report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

They tell of the curious case of an Australian ostrich farmer who needed emergency care for lung paralysis after drinking 4-10 litres of cola a day.

He made a full recovery and was advised to curtail his cola intake, BBC News portal reported on Tuesday.
Another example included a pregnant woman who regularly consumed up to three litres a day for the last six years and complained of tiredness, appetite loss and persistent vomiting.

A heart trace revealed she had an irregular heartbeat, most likely caused by her low blood potassium levels.
Once she stopped drinking such quantity of cola, she made a full and uneventful recovery.

The investigators believe these cases are not atypical and that many people risk problems due to their intake. Manufacturers insist the products are safe when consumed in moderation.

In a commentary, Clifford Packer from the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Centre in Ohio said: “We have every reason to think that it is not rare. With aggressive mass marketing, super-sizing of soft drinks, and the effects of caffeine tolerance and dependence, there is very little doubt that tens of millions of people in industrialised countries drink at least 2-3 litres of cola per day. “It follows that the serum potassium levels of these heavy cola drinkers are dropping, in some cases, to dangerous low levels.”

The author of the study, Moses Elisaf from the University of Ioannina in Greece, said it appeared that hypokalaemia can be caused by excessive consumption of three of the most common ingredients in cola drinks – glucose, fructose and caffeine. “The individual role of each of these ingredients in the pathophysiology of cola-induced hypokalaemia has not been determined and may vary in different patients. However in most of cases we looked at for our review, caffeine intoxication was thought to play the most important role.

“This has been borne out by case studies that focus on other products that contain high levels of caffeine but no glucose or fructose.”

Despite this, he warned that caffeine free cola products could also cause hypokalaemia because the fructose they contain can cause diarrhoea. “We believe that further studies are needed to establish how much is too much when it comes to the daily consumption of cola drinks.”

Sources: The Times Of India

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Drink Brewed Tea to Protect Your Teeth

{{en}}Green tea leaves steeping in an uncovere...
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Forget lattes and fresh lime juice, the best thing to drink is brewed tea, for it has no erosive effect on teeth and its antioxidants provide health benefits, according to a new research.
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Refined sugars and acids found in soda and citrus juice promote tooth erosion, which wears away the hard part of the teeth, or the enamel. Once tooth enamel is lost, it’s gone forever.

However, brewed tea is a beverage that does not produce such irreversible results.

Apart from tasting good, brewed tea has many health benefits. Tea is loaded with natural antioxidants, which are thought to decrease incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

For the study, lead author Mohamed A. Bassiouny, DMD, BDS, MSc, PhD, compared green and black tea to soda and orange juice in terms of their short- and long-term erosive effect on human teeth.

The study found that the erosive effect of tea was similar to that of water, which has no erosive effect. And, when comparing green versus black, he discovered that there is a better option among those as well.

“When we look at tea and read about the benefits, it’s amazing-not because green tea is ‘the in thing’-but because there are advantages,” Bassiouny said.

He added that much research done overseas, in countries such as Japan and Europe, found that green tea was identified to being superior over black due to its natural flavonoids (plant nutrients) and antioxidants.

Experts suggest drinking drink tea without additives such as milk, lemon, or sugar because they combine with tea’s natural flavonoids and decrease the benefits.

The also suggest to stay away from pre-packaged iced teas because they contain citric acid and high amounts of sugars. It does not matter whether the tea is warm or cold-as long as it is home brewed without additives.

Kenton Ross, DMD, FAGD, AGD spokesperson, sees patients’ erosion problems on a daily basis in his practice. “This study clearly shows that brewed teas resulted in dramatically less enamel loss than soft drinks and acidic juices. I would highly recommend patients choose tea as an alternative to more erosive drinks like soda and fruit juice.”

The study is published in the July/August issue of General Dentistry, the clinical, peer-reviewed journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

Sources: The Times Of India

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Small Steps: A Good-Health Guide

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PARENTING has never been an easy job, but mothers and fathers today face challenges in raising their children that their own parents may never have had to address.

While children have always been picky eaters, for instance, parents today are trying to supply healthful food in a world dominated by chicken nuggets, processed snacks and soft drinks. Bike riding and hopscotch have given way to video games and text messaging. And working parents have to juggle day care, jobs and family.

At the same time, the barrage of health information on the Internet and elsewhere has introduced a higher level of stress for parents. Web sites promote supplements that increase a child’s brain health while news organizations report on the latest scare from baby bottles or too much television.

All of this makes raising a healthy child feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.

This Well guide offers small steps and simple strategies to improve a child’s well-being in four areas — nutrition, development, playtime and safety. Inside, there’s advice from experts on how to raise a healthy, active youngster: tips on diet and behavior, help for problems like insomnia, and the latest thinking on day care, discipline and other topics. It’s all designed to help kids stay well every day.

Sources: The New York Times

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Sedentary Life ‘Speeds Up Ageing’

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Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests.

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...There is now another good reason for regular exercise, say researchers.

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A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King’s College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

The King’s team studied 2,401 white twins, asking them to fill out questionnaires on their level of physical activity, and taking a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.

They particularly focused on telomeres, the repeat sequences of DNA that sit on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

As people age, their telomeres become shorter, leaving cells more susceptible to damage and death.

Examining white blood cells from the immune system in particular, the researchers found that, on average, telomeres lost 21 component parts – called nucleotides – every year.

But men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres compared to those who were more active.

The average telomere length in those who took the least amount of exercise – 16 minutes of physical activity a week – was 200 nucleotides shorter than those who took the most exercise – 199 minutes of physical activity a week, such as running, tennis or aerobics.

The most active people had telomeres of a length comparable to those found in inactive people who were up to 10 years’ younger, on average.

Direct comparison of twins who had different levels of physical activity produced similar results.

Impact of stress

The researchers suggest that physically inactive people may be more vulnerable to the damage caused to cells by exposure to oxygen, and to inflammation.

Stress is also thought to have an impact on telomere length, and the researchers suggest people who exercise regularly may help to reduce their stress levels.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: “Our results show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.

“This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise.”

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Jack Guralnik, of the US National Institute on Aging, said more work was needed to show a direct relationship between ageing and physical activity.

He said: “Persons who exercise are different from sedentary persons in many ways, and although certain variables were adjusted for in this analysis, many additional factors could be responsible for the biological differences between active and sedentary persons.

“Nevertheless, this article serves as one of many pieces of evidence that telomere length might be targeted in studying ageing outcomes.”

“This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise”
By King’s College London researchers

Sources: BBC NEWS,29TH. JAN’08

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