So Now They're Saying Sugar-Free is Bad for You, Too?

Just when you thought you had it licked, now it's time to start all over again.

We've all been cutting out soda from our diets, but now did you know that sugar-free drinks can harm you, too?

According to a new study, sugar-free products cause serious dental issues.

Say what?  Say goodbye to your tooth enamel, that's what.

A recent study by the University of Melbourne's Oral Health Cooperative Research Centre goes with the argument against these drinks. The research states that these sugar-free drinks we enjoy can actually cause extensive damage to the tooth enamel.

The research team conducted tests for 23 different types of drinks (soft drinks and sports drinks). Even if the drink is sugar-free, they found that the drinks have acidic additives and if there are low pH levels, they can induce damage to the dental enamel.

The researchers found that there is an occurrence of dental enamel softening and tooth surface loss after the tooth's contact to sugar-free drinks.

The soft drinks and sports drinks increased the softening of dental enamel by 30-50 percent. There are no significant differences between sugar-containing and sugar-free drinks - both still attributed to loss of tooth surface. Out of the eight sports drinks tested, all except two were found to cause dental enamel loss.

So all those times you  thought you were saving yourself sugar to prevent obesity, looks like the sugar-free stuff has to go, too.  Boo hoo.





Comments

  1. AmeriBevDecember 21, 2015 at 6:33 AM

    Characterizing beverages, such as soft drinks, as a unique cause of tooth erosion is overly simplistic. Oral health is determined by a variety of factors, including types of foods consumed, the length of time foods are retained in the mouth and the level of oral hygiene. In fact, science tells us that individual susceptibility to tooth erosion varies depending on a person’s behavior, lifestyle, diet and genetic make-up. It should also be noted that low- and no-calorie sweeteners have been proven safe by the FDA and regulatory agencies around the globe. There is no reason why the average individual should avoid them.

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