Diet and dental health
Roger castell
Natural food is the 1er essential pillar for achieving good physical and mental health. It helps to create dynamism, the joy of living and the health of the mouth and teeth. But the current trend is to offer food that is unsuited to real physiological needs, which promotes health problems and increases expenses, particularly in dental terms. (1)
1 – Evolution of the diet
The “ideal” food must nourish, be easily digested and bring no inconvenience. This diet, which for a long time was traditional and regional, preserved the health of the population. But big changes happened from the 1830s, with the industrial revolution and colonization. The productions have gradually changed their objectives, losing their artisanal reference to adopting a clearly “industrial” practice. It was no longer just a question of “feeding” the population, but above all of increasing the profits of the intermediaries. We then sought to increase quantities and reduce production costs, which led to a reduction in quality.
For example, margarine is a simple emulsion of water and vegetable oil, in a proportion of 10 to 90% by weight. Its invention dates back to the middle of the 19rd century, but its production experienced an extraordinary increase from 1900, thanks to advertising which presented it as a substitute for butter, having the advantage of keeping longer, being more economical and presenting a more malleable material. .
Unfortunately, sales of natural raw butter and fish liver oils, known as replenishers and remineralizers, have been pushed off the table, resulting in a gradual deterioration of health. (2) This industrial problem was indeed found with hybridized cereals and white bread, then with the intensive production of meat (beef, poultry) and dairy products. These developments have upset eating habits in all social circles. (3).
In 1950, the French still spent 30% of their budget on food, but today, due to other expenses, they do not want to spend more than 13%. The dietary evolution shows a decrease in the consumption of bread and an increase in meat, sugar and cheese.
Food evolution from 1840 to 2010
| 1840 | 1900 | 1950 | 1980 | 2010 | |
| Bread/day | 1000grs | 500 grs | 300 grs | 170 grs | 160 grs |
| Meat/year | 20kgs | 40 kgs | 60 kgs | 110kgs | 66 kgs |
| sugar/day | 30grs | 40grs | 60 grs | 100grs | 70 grs |
| Cheese/year | 5kgs | 7kgs | 9kgs | 20kgs | 25 kgs |
2 – “Acidifying” foods
The consumption of sugar, meat and cheese should be reduced so as not to exceed the reasonable threshold for maintaining health. As the biological capacities are different from one individual to another, it is difficult to propose the ideal composition of a daily menu. However we must preserve the balances especially that of the acid-base potential, in order to avoid the risks ofacidosis. These accumulations of acids in the tissues and organs cause inflammation, fatigue and sometimes more serious illnesses.
meat consumption per capita in France has fortunately decreased over the past 20 years. When more protein is used than required to build and maintain cells, amino acids are seen to undergo oxidative deamination yielding ketone acids and a molecule of NH3 (ammonia), which yield three types of acids: oxalic acid, pyruvic acid and alpha-glutaric acid. However, meat is useful in small quantities since it is a "builder" food and is rich in cations (Na, Ca, Mg). Thus, its sodium (Na) will neutralize the free acidity, and the consumer will keep the calcium in the calcium citrate to serve as a calcifier.
white sugar is a well-known cariogen, attacking tooth enamel directly in the mouth. But, this fast sugar also blocks the metabolism of calcium and therefore all its availability. Can this product be considered a food? No, for various nutritional reasons. It is a chemically pure product, because the white sugar is washed of all its nutritional constituents (minerals, vitamins). The products used during refining are toxic. The sugar is finally soiled by many residues. This product is dead and very decalcifying (4). It is very different from whole cane sugar, called brown sugar, obtained by simple evaporation of sugar cane juice. Here are the characteristics of the 2 sugars, the refined to be rejected and the very mineralized whole which can be used reasonably.
Composition of refined sugar and whole sugar
| White sugar | Rapadura whole sugar |
| Sucrose: 99,6 g/100 | Sucrose: 80 g/100 |
| Protein: 0g | Protein: 1,5g |
| Minerals: 40mg | Minerals: 2200mg |
| Vitamins: 0 | Vitamins: A, B and C |
Finally, cheeses and all fatty substances should not exceed 1 g per kg of weight per day. However, some manage to consume in fat, each day, the equivalent of the weight for a man of 400 kg, that is to say 400 g. We then understand that this excess promotes obesity.
Dangers of White Bread
White bread (laden with starch) and refined cereals are devitalized and will accentuate the viscosity blood causing acidosis and mineral imbalance. Minerals are used to mineralize, but also to neutralize the acidifying reactions of the various metabolisms, because iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium have a basic action. We can also act on digestion by rehabilitating the whole grain in our diet, as well as by favoring the intake of raw foods rich in minerals, enzymes, vitamins and chlorophyll. It is a more satisfying behavior than buying mass-market products that have an unfavorable role on health.
Le Dr M H Beguin in "Natural Foods, Healthy Teeth" also advises choosing sourdough wholemeal bread guaranteed to be yeast-free and made only from flours from organically grown wheat. He also recommends facilitating its assimilation by taking the time to chew cereals well (bread, pasta, etc.), to avoid fermentation and the creation of excess lactic acid.
The mineral content depends on the refining, depending on the extraction rate (in %), the flour becomes increasingly white and increasingly devoid of nutritional interest.
Flour mineral content by extraction rate
| 100% | Sodium | calcium | phosphorus | Potassium | magnesium | fer |
| 95% | 83 | 82 | 90 | 83 | 85 | 92 |
| 90% | 77 | 65 | 62 | 63 | 50 | 80 |
| 80% | 58 | 50 | 42 | 43 | 30 | 62 |
| 70% | 50 | 42 | 33 | 33 | 20 | 43 |
| 60% | 50 | 35 | 30 | 23 | 15 | 25 |
3 – Caries and demineralization
How does the tooth, however hard and compact, undergo a corrosive attack? To solve the problem of caries, we must think of the metabolic slowdowns that occur due to a lack of catalysts. (5) but also to excess consumption of the 3 main nutrients and insufficient chewing of cereals.
The blood must remain within very limited pH variations, otherwise feelings of discomfort appear. Against abnormal acidification, the body has a means of defence, the "buffer system", which involves not only phosphates, but also sodium chloride (NaCl). When the acidity rises, the Cl of the NaCl contained in the blood passes from the extracellular liquid into the intracellular sector where it is captured by the proteins. It is concentrated in the connective tissue (collagen) of the body and especially in the subcutaneous layer.
In the skeleton, Cl binds to calcium phosphate to form Chloropatite. The Na remaining in the extracellular fluid will serve to neutralize the acidity and facilitate its elimination, bringing the blood pH back to the norm of 7.2 to 7.4. Phosphate (PO4) binds in the body to calcium. 99% of Ca and 90% of P are found in bones and teeth, the rest is found in soft tissues and body fluids where they are used for exchange. Since Ca is a source of neutralization of organic acidity, we have here one of the dangers of sugar (sucrose and other fast sugars) blocking the metabolism of Ca and therefore its availability.
Sugar is indeed the enemy of teething since it brings in a brutal way a large quantity of empty calories (4000 kg/cal per kg) and unbalances the metabolism because of its decalcifying effect. But it is not the only cause of cavities, because our eating habits, even without sugar, promote cavities due to industrial techniques that have changed the composition of food and reduced its quality. Moreover, the period of recession of the 2rd world war saw fewer cavities, as people ate less sugar and fat and more wholemeal bread.
4 – Cavity tributes
The anthropologist Claude Levis Strauss, noticed that the inhabitants of traditional societies are rarely affected by dental caries. This observation has been largely confirmed by the dentist Weston Price in his fascinating study devoted to the comparison of several mountain ethnic groups from Switzerland, Asia, Africa and the poles having moved far away from traditional life. (6) He explains the changes that have occurred, including the appearance of cavities, by the consumption of "modern" foods such as alcohol, refined products, canned foods and white sugar.
In particular, he points out that the Indians of the Far North, traditionally living, are robust with well-formed faces and jaws. “…in several groups examined I did not find a single decayed tooth. In 97 individuals totaling 2464 teeth there were only 4 caries (0.16%)”. On the other hand “In examining groups increasingly affected by civilization we noted a progressive increase in the frequency of cavities which reached 25% at Telegraph Creek, the point of contact with the food of the Whites…”. (…)
W. Price insists that “Where the Indians ate modern white food, cavities were very active. In the generation following the encounter with white civilization and the consumption of its foods, the overlapping of the teeth and the deformation of the teeth were already beginning to appear…”.
An essential awareness
Energy is obtained from the 3 nutrients, which are carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, but the excess of their consumption will cause an abnormal accumulation of acids in the tissues. It is therefore necessary to reduce these foods to maintain the silent harmony of the mineral balance and the biological constants of our blood.
Will we then understand the immense interest in consuming a living and organic diet to guard against mineral disorders and cavities in particular? The food revolution has created enormous harm to the human community, in health and the environment. To survive, humans must learn to limit themselves and humbly respect the supreme laws of life. Through this awareness, humanity will emerge strengthened and grown.
1 – Healthy eating, Chantal and Lionel Clergeaud, Seasonal recipes, Ed Balances Today.
2- – Keys to active longevity, Dangles edition, p. 216-223.
3 – Murdered agriculture, Jean-Clair Davesnes, Ed Chiré.
4 – White sugar produces stomach hyperacidity, sequesters intestinal B vitamins and induces permanent cellular disorder.
5 – A blocked or slowed metabolic reaction produces abnormal accumulations of metabolic acids.
6 – First peoples, by Weston Price, HS n°9, ABE edition, p. 18.