The Damaging Effects Sports and Energy Drinks Can Have on Your Teeth
Sports and Energy drinks level of acidity is increasingly responsible for irreversible damage to teeth, especially amongst adolescents and younger adults. This according to a report in the May/June 2012 issue of General Dentistry.
Researchers looked at acidity levels in 13 different sports drinks and found levels varied greatly between both brands and different flavors of the same brand. Scientists immersed samples of tooth enamel in each beverage for 15 minutes and then replaced them in artificial saliva for two hours. The cycle was repeated four times per day for five days to mimic the equivalent of drinking four smart drinks per day. At all other times, the teeth were stored in the artificial saliva.
After just five days, the damage was already evident, with energy drinks causing double the damage of more balanced sports drinks. Some fifty percent of US teenagers are reported to consume energy drinks and as many as sixty two percent consume at least one sports drink per day. Parents and young adults should be made aware of the downside to the heavily marketed products, says the report.
