Tangy citric acid sweets like Haribo's as the cause of the child tooth decay epidemic

[GH64]

I have an idea about what may be causing the ongoing tooth decay epidemic in children: it is the tangy but erosive citric acid contained in Haribo sweets (and similar tangy sweets).

Citric acid is particularly erosive to tooth enamel: one study found citric acid far more erosive to teeth than the phosphoric acid found in soft drinks like Coca Cola.

The Haribo brand of children's sweets that now dominate the UK market are loaded with citric acid, as well as malic acid, in order to create their tangy flavour. If you look the ingredients in Haribo's sweets (click on the word "Ingredients"), pretty much all their sweets contain citric acid.

In the last decade or so, Haribo sweets have rapidly come to dominate the UK market, and this rise of popularity has coincided with the child tooth decay epidemic, which began about a decade ago.

I have found that if I suck a lot of tangy citric acid-containing sweets every day like Haribo, after some days I start to feel sensitivity appearing in my teeth, suggesting that the enamel has been thinned by this acid.

Once I stop eating these sweets, the sensitivity eventually disappears after a few weeks, as the enamel is slowly rebuilt from the minerals calcium and phosphate in the saliva (this is how teeth are normally rebuilt), this rebuilding being helped along by the fluoride in toothpaste.

Here is a BBC article on the current child tooth decay epidemic.

There has not been an increase in the amount of sugar eaten , indeed there has been a small decrease after the tax on sugar in drinks. What there has been is an increase in grazing and snacking.
So what is important is the number of times a day sugar/starch is consumed because each exposure to sugar takes an hour for the acid to be neutralised. Although sugar consumption has dropped slightly , the number of times a day something sugary/starchy is consumed has increased and very markedly since the pandemic.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53238366

It is a shame that there is not a safe-beyond-doubt artificial sweetener, which could be used in drinks, foods and sweets, replacing sugar. That I think would dramatically lower tooth decay, if it was mandated.

@Lollygaggle may I slightly hijack and ask if there is any issue with drinking unsweetened mint tea very often. It should be fine as it's not acidic, right? But now I'm wondering...

Mint tea, camomile tea and herbal teas are fine, no acid or sugar.
Just be careful if you have acid reflux as mint tea relaxes the smooth muscle at the top of the stomach and can make reflux worse.

Thank you! I don't have any stomach issues but do have dry mouth and I drink a ton of water, and also loads of mint tea. So just wanted to check...

Artificial sweeteners are terrible and we should not be encouraging the consumption of them in place of sugar.

As other posters have tried to discuss it would be far more effective to address the grazing culture which is the real issue.

In the 1970s we all had cavities!

I'm.sure sweets are bad, as are loaded sodas. However not seeing a dentist possibly ever takes its toll. I hated going and I hated having fillings but it had a sort of positive response in that I started to.clean my teeth as best I could not long after the filling experience.

We had school dentists too! Horrible portacabins would turn up and I'd spend my days waiting, dreading them coming to pull me out of class!

Before the advent of accessible dentistry (mm, like now, sadly), since confectionary would not have been a regular part of a poor person's diet, why did they have such bad teeth?

I am not a sugar denier! It is poison. I am simply curious and would love to know more about dental health across the ages.

That's not true.

The answer is it depends on the individual and the particular sweetener.

Though to be honest people shouldn't be sucking on sweets especially randomly between meals.

in the distant past the poor had bad teeth from wear (grit from grindstones used to make flour) and gum disease but didn’t have decay because sugar and honey were for the rich only. The rich had all of the above plus decay because they ate sugar, honey etc. Elizabeth 1st probably signed Mary Queen of Scots death warrant because of tooth ache.

You still see this pattern in areas of the world where sugar/honey/fruit juice etc does not make up much of the diet , gum disease and tooth wear are the main dental diseases until a more western diet is adopted then tooth decay becomes a problem.

Step forward to Boctorian times and tooth decay became a problem for lower classes because sugar became more affordable and eaten more widely. Tooth problems were the number one reason for a recruit being unfit to serve in the First World War. Tooth decay went down in the Second World War because of rationing of sugar.

The biggest next factor was the introduction in the 1970s in the U.K. of fluoride toothpaste which started to rapidly bring the decay rate down . Dental schools were shut down as the nations dental health improved.

However in more recent years , despite the amount of sugar consumed decreasing , especially after the sugared beverage tax , decay has not been dropping and oral health has not been increasing. This is because the amount of times a day people are eating ie grazing and sipping has increased , so teeth are exposed to sugar more often during the day. The average U.K. child eats 8 times a day.

Gum disease still remains the number one reason to lose a tooth in the U.K. because most of us do not clean teeth effectively ,even though less of us smoke , but vaping is still a problem as is rocketing rates of type 2 diabetes .

I agree I brushed my children's teeth until they were around teenage and I was confident they could do it sufficiently.

One got lax as she got older and has four fillings, (she regrets this now) the other didn't and has no fillings.

Some of it is genetic /diet but good dental care is the biggest factor

Sorry but the research says diet , and in particular frequency of sugar/starch consumption outside of mealtimes that is the biggest factor.

Brushing with fluoride or hydroxyapatite toothpaste has a great effect on tooth decay , rates went down in the 70s when it was introduced in the U.K., and not supervising children’s brushing until they are around 8 does make a big difference , but for most people in the U.K. they get decay because their teeth are under attack several times a day outside of meal times. Each bite , sip of sugary/starchy food attacks teeth for an hour afterwards. www.actiononsugar.org/sugar-and-health/sugars-and-tooth-decay/#:~:text=A%20greater%20frequency%20of%20consumption,sugar%20at%20an%20early%20age.

However brushing with fluoride is not a get out of jail free card, you will still get decay (sometimes in slightly different places or with a different appearence ie occult caries) if you increase frequency of sugar/starch intake. We saw an increase in decay after lockdown as people snacking and , in particular childrens snacking , on sugary /starchy food greatly increased. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53238366

@Lollygaggle I worded it poorly I think what I meant is correct brushing will help stave off tooth decay for those with a well rounded diet.

But obviously people with unsuitable diets will have tooth decay regardless of how well they brush

I grew up in the 80s and we never drank water. I used to take a glass of Ribena to bed! Absolutely wrecked mine and my siblings’ teeth.