Carbs, sugary diets may cause poor oral health, says research

A new study on postmenopausal women finds links between widely consumed foods and the diversity and composition of oral bacteria. They found that higher intake of sugary and high glycemic load foods -- like doughnuts and other baked goods, regular soft drinks, breads and non-fat yogurts -- may influence poor oral health and, perhaps, systemic health outcomes in older women due to the influence these foods have on the oral microbiome. In a study in Scientific Reports, an open access journal from the publishers of Nature, the UB-led team investigated whether carbohydrates and sucrose, or table sugar, were associated with the diversity and composition of oral bacteria in a sample of 1,204 postmenopausal women using data from the Women's Health Initiative. "This is important because the oral bacteria involved in periodontal disease are primarily residing in the subgingival plaque," said study first author Amy Millen, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB's School of Public Health and Health Professions. "We examined these bacteria in relation to usual carbohydrate consumption in postmenopausal women across a wide variety of carbohydrate types: total carbohydrate intake, fiber intake, disaccharide intake, to simple sugar intake," Millen said.