Green Tea May Strengthen Your Teeth

Researchers suspect antimicrobial molecules contained within green tea helps preserve teeth (as long as you don't add sugar).

By Jessica Marshall | Mon Apr 19, 2010 07:37 AM ET

That's the finding of new research published in Preventive Medicine. The findings show that drinking at least one cup of green tea a day increases the odds of keeping your teeth as you age.

The researchers suspect that antimicrobial molecules called catechins present in green tea and in lesser amounts in oolong tea provide the benefit. But be careful if you like your tea with sugar: sweetener may negate the effect, the team found.

"Green tea may have bacteriocidal effects, which would affect teeth, but only if you drink it without sugar," said Alfredo Morabia, of Columbia University in New York and editor of Preventive Medicine, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new research.

"They also reported that drinking sweet coffee was actually deleterious," he added. "Coffee alone had no problem, but sweet coffee would actually make you lose your teeth."

more

http://news.discovery.com/human/green-tea-teeth-dental.html

(occasional black varieties), coffee and water--all unsweetened. I hope this is true. It was damned hard to cut the diet soft drink habit, but I admittedly feel much better.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.