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Sugar availability, sugar consumption and dental caries
Author(s) -
Sreebny Leo M.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1982.tb00352.x
Subject(s) - sugar , sugar consumption , medicine , per capita , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , epidemiology , ingestion , dentistry , food science , population , social science , sociology , chemistry
This study was conducted to update our knowledge about the relation between sugar consumption and dental caries in nations throughout the world. Data on the prevalence of dental caries for 6‐ and 12‐year‐old children in, respectively, 23 and 47 nations were obtained from the World Health Organization's Global Oral Epidemiology Bank. Information on sugar supplies was obtained from Food Balance Sheet data prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The study indicates that for the 12‐, but not for the 6‐, year‐old children there is a significant positive correlation between the per capita availability of sugar and dental caries. The data also suggest that the availability, and presumably the ingestion, of 50 g of sugar per day may represent an outer limit of “safe” or “acceptable” sugar consumption. Furthermore, a comparison of data obtained from Food Balance Sheets for the per capita daily “consumption” of sugar with data for consumption obtained from Household Consumption Surveys in six countries, shows that these data collection methods frequently do not give comparable results. Accurate, total, age‐specific consumption figures with information on frequency and the manner of use are needed if the relationship between oral disease and dietary sugar is to be clarified.