To couple pH with 'badness', you need to couple it with volume. It takes less effort to neutralize 1L of pH3 stuff than 10L of pH4 stuff.
Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
31–40 of 108 posts
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#32Interesting, but their choice of weighting of sugar and pH is not based on any evidence. Also, would the amount of time that the drink is in contact with your teeth not have an impact? Perhaps wine would have more of an impact because you might keep it in your mouth longer, offset by the small likelihood you you drinking as much of it?
Similarly, I read something recently (no link, sorry) that stated something like the following (poorly paraphrased): Juice is fine to drink as it's generally healthy, but if you're going to drink it, do so quickly instead of sipping on it for long periods. The premise being exactly what you surmised, that chugging a small glass of OJ is much better for your teeth than sipping it and putting your teeth into contact wi…
Juice is for most intents and purposes no healthier dan soda. It's mostly sugar and acid. The fact that said sugar and acid used to reside in a piece of fruit makes no difference at all.
If you want the health benefits of fruit, eat a piece of fruit.
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#33Hm, but what about the effect of the bacteria consuming said drinks; surely this will change the results ?
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#34I wish he would have provided more explanation behind the dentist's algorithm. Here's an actual study measuring enamel loss, which seems much more definitive: http://faculty.philau.edu/ashleyj/General%20Dentistry%20Arti... Perhaps the most important snippet: Regression analysis indicated no correlation between enamel dissolution and beverage pH (r = 0.477, p > 0.05); in addition, the enamel dissolution showed no diff…
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Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Besides being bad for your teeth it's a nightmare on your body. That insulin dump from the onslaught of sugar will make you much more likely to develop diabetes, and some studies have shown a long-term metabolic effect where your body prefers sugars for energy instead of fats. That and the empty calories will lop-side your diet and make it harder to lose weight or gain muscle. There are lots of ways you can drink som…
I 100% agree. Actually I have done almost exactly that, switched to tea, or ice tea. I'm not completely off the sugary drinks, but I'll drink things like Honest Tea with a lot less sugar than Coke, or just plain Tea. The thing I'm actually most worried about is pancreatic cancer. I'm not even sure if there's a link between that and soft drinks, but I read one study where having 2-3 soft drinks a week doubled your ris…
For sweetness, try rotating between non-fructuse sweeteners. like saccharin, aspartame, stevia, etc.
I also find that Coke Zero is a nice way to cut down on sugar but still keep the Coke taste, and it's a lot less acidic than Diet Coke. However I don't find vending machines stocking it as often as I'd like. That's assuming you are not buying into the aspartame myths. I've got diabetes in my family, so to me the risks of sugar far outweighs the less than slight risk of aspartame.
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#36I've never understood if sugar affects gum disease. Does anyone know? Does the gum disease bacteria eat sugar or directly eat your teeth and gums?
I tried looking it up once but I only found information about sugar and cavities.
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#37From a very basic investigation by myself, I have found whiskey and water to be the alcoholic drink that's the least acidic.
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similarly, I read something recently (no link, sorry) that stated something like the following (poorly paraphrased): Juice is fine to drink as it's generally healthy, but if you're going to drink it, do so quickly instead of sipping on it for long periods. The premise being exactly what you surmised, that chugging a small glass of OJ is much better for your teeth than sipping it and putting your teeth into contact wi…
Juice is for most intents and purposes no healthier dan soda. It's mostly sugar and acid. The fact that said sugar and acid used to reside in a piece of fruit makes no difference at all. If you want the health benefits of fruit, eat a piece of fruit.
I love the conviction with which you say that.
So, there is no difference between compounds that we've evolved to consume over millions of years, and ones which were designed in the last 30 to be as addictive and as cheap to make as possible?
While I do not claim that there is evidence of difference (I cannot provide any), it is unfounded to claim that there is none, whether based on some (inherently) limited study of effects, or just based on lack of knowledge otherwise.
To be clear, I'm NOT talking about "Honest to god freshly squeezed tropicana juice", which is stretching the definition of what "squeezed orange juice" means (In case you are not aware - they boil it in vacuum, which gives it a much longer storage and shelf life, but kills taste and probably also any nutritional value; flavor is later added with a market-specific artificial "flavor kit" before packaging to consumers).
I'm talking about actually taking an orange, squeezing that, and drinking it. Which should be the only acceptable definition for "orange juice", I think.
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#39I've never understood if sugar affects gum disease. Does anyone know? Does the gum disease bacteria eat sugar or directly eat your teeth and gums? I tried looking it up once but I only found information about sugar and cavities.
Bacteria consume sugar, which produces acid as a waste-product, which erodes enamel. Gum disease is primarily an inflammatory response to the presence of external irritants like dental plaque (which contains bacteria as well).
Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)
#40Interested in hearing what people think of Xylitol and its positive effects on saliva pH.
Xylitol's major positive effects on teeth health come from a different path: The bacteria responsible for cavities will try to eat it (cause it's close enough to sugar) but fail to digest it (cause it isn't), which will interfere with their ability to prosper and even kill them.
(Unfortunately, that's also true for dogs: DO NOT feed your dog xylitol. It is toxic for them: two xylitol-swettened gums are potentially enough to kill a small dog, and cause irreversible damage to larger dogs!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol is a treasure trove