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15 July 2019

How Fad Diets are bad for your oral health!

Juice cleanses, the 5:2, meal replacement shakes – Fad diets have become increasingly popular over the years, with people going to extreme lengths to lose weight fast. But, are people taking into consideration the detrimental affect on their health when following the latest health crazes?

Losing teeth to lose weight

A recent piece of research carried out by Pronamel shows that four in five adults aren’t aware that fad diets can cause irreversible enamel erosion. Worryingly, 33% of Brits don’t think that fad diets have any affect on our oral health at all.

Many diets nowadays are marketed as a quick way to get healthy, when the truth is far from that with many being extremely unhealthy for our bodies and mouths. We here at Church Road Dental and Cosmetics in Cheshire wanted to take look at some of the worst offenders and share some top tips with you:

Meal replacement shakes

Usually seen as a popular ‘quick fix’ even just a short period of time living off meal replacement shakes can cause a long-term affect on our oral health.

Encouraged to swap meals with calorie controlled shakes and bars, people think they’re cutting out the bad stuff. The reality is most shakes contain up to 18 grams of sugar per serving, which can lead to tooth decay and tartar buildup.

If people still want to take their chances with this kind of diet, we recommend rinsing your mouth after the shakes to reduce the potential damage to your teeth.

Juice Cleanses  

Another popular ‘quick-fix’, juicing has become a global phenomenon over the past few years. When fruits and vegetables are blended, they release more sugar and have an alarmingly high acid content, which can damage your teeth in a similar way to fizzy drinks.

If we can’t tempt you from stopping a juice cleanse, be sure to drink through a straw and wait at least 30 minutes after drinking before brushing your teeth,

The 5:2 Diet

Based on intermittent fasting, people doing the 5:2 diet stick to a balanced diet five days a week and then limit themselves to 500 calories on the other two – particularly cutting our carbs. It’s been heavily endorsed by celebrities, but was hasn’t been endorsed is the rather unattractive side affects of this diet – bad breath!

When you don’t eat as many carbohydrates, your body breaks down fat instead which is also known as ketosis, which has a very common side effect of bad breath!

To avoid the bad breath and give your body the nourishment it needs, we suggest keeping in the carbs, but just switching to healthier versions such as whole-wheat.

‘Diet’ drinks

It’s hard to know what’s healthy nowadays with many products on the shelves be listed at ‘diet’ but are in fact being extremely unhealthy, this is because they contain alarmingly high levels of phosphoric, citric and tartaric acid.

Diet sodas, hot water with fruit slices and 100% fruit juices are prime candidates for this as they contain an alarmingly high acid rate. This kind of acid weakens the enamel on your teeth and makes them more susceptible to cavities and erosion.

Did you know there is little difference in the eroding effects of diet fizzy drinks compared to regular fizzy drinks?!

If you are going to drink sodas or fruit juices, the best time to do so is with a meal and through a straw.

Stick to tooth-friendly drinks

It may seem boring, but sticking to drinks that are low in acid will keep your teeth from wearing and protect them from becoming sensitive; with water and milk being the friendliest.

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