QUOTE: Coffee may protect teeth from decay. In lab tests, some of its compounds stopped bacteria taking hold, the first step towards dental cavities.
The coffee components chlorogenic acid, nicotinic acid and trigonelline prevent decay-causing Streptococcus mutans microbes from sticking to a synthetic tooth surface, report Carla Pruzzo of the University of Ancona, Italy, and colleagues. Animal and human experiments will be needed to determine whether or not they do the same on real teeth.
"These studies may help us understand the relationship between diet and cavities," says Pruzzo.
Trigonelline, the main contributor to coffee's bitter taste, was the most potent anti-adhesive. Caffeine, which puts the jolt into java, does little to fend off tooth predators.
Coffee beans - green and roasted - have long been known to contain antibacterial and antioxidant chemicals, but how most of these compounds act is unknown. "For eons, people have focused on caffeine as the bioactive compound in coffee, but there are many others to look at," agrees Peter Martin, a researcher at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies in Nashville, Tennessee.
Coffee is one of several foods being screened for substances that prevent the early stages of tooth decay, says dentist William Bowen of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York state. Tea and cranberry juice, for example, are also thought to contain ingredients that might make decay-busting additives for mouthwashes and toothpastes... UNQUOTE.
http://intl.emboj.org/news/2002/020402/full/news020402-8.html;jsessionid=
A2747BD11377C8BD728E940EB91B92EB
This report was of the following study:
Daglia, M. et al. Antiadhesive effect of green and roasted coffee on Streptococcus mutans' adhesive properties on saliva-coated hydroxyapatite beads. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50, 1225 - 1229 (2002). |
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