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British Dental Journal paper finds products contain acidic additives that can lead to the erosion of tooth enamel.
Sugar-free gum, sweets and soft drinks, marketed as healthy alternatives to sugary products, can damage teeth, cause gastric problems and are unlikely to promote weight loss, research claims.
A study review in the British Dental Journal (BDJ) found that sugar-free foods and drinks contain acidic additives that may cause dental problems by eroding the enamel on consumers' teeth.
Disclosure of what the authors call a "hidden risk" could affect sales of sugar-free products, especially given what the paper describes as consumers' blind confidence in such products as a good thing.
The paper, Are sugar-free confections really beneficial for dental health?, examined the role of sugar substitutes used in products to reduce the risk of tooth decay. While one commonly used group of substitutes, called sugar alcohols, or polyols, do lessen the risk of cavities, they can cause acidity in the mouth that then leads to erosion of teeth enamel, says the paper.
These substitutes include xylitol, which the European commission has allowed to market itself as a "tooth friendly" ingredient in chewing gum. Xylitol is widely-used in sugar-free products sold in the UK.
The literature review, by academics from the universities of Boston, Helsinki and Southern Nevada, concludes: "As the use of sorbitol and xylitol containing products increases, the public should be educated on the hidden risk of dental erosion due to acidic additives, as well as the adverse effects of gastric disturbance and osmotic diarrhoea. Especially in sugar-free products, these adverse effects may be more insidious because the public has blind confidence that they are oral health friendly."
It adds: "Although the presence of acidic flavourings and preservatives in sugar-free products has received less attention, these additives may have adverse dental health effects, such as dental erosion. Furthermore, the term sugar-free may generate false security because people may automatically believe that sugar-free products are safe on teeth."
The review raises the wider question of what health-related claims made on behalf of products can be trusted, said Stephen Hancocks, the BDJ's editor-in-chief. "The claim might well mean what it says and be suitably backed-up by research evidence, but does it fully say what it means, or alternatively, what is it not saying? Sugar-free may seem to indicate that a sweet or other product is tooth friendly, but this is not automatically the case," he wrote in a commentary on the findings.
Given sugar-free products' role in erosion of dental enamel, and doubts over perceptions of them as helping users to consume fewer calories, he continued, "the result is a minefield of confusion for the patient who is trying his or her very best to comply with healthy choices and a complex labyrinth of communication for the professional in attempting to convey practical advice."
Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the British Dental Association, which represents dentists, said excess use of sugar-free products containing fruit flavourings could rot the enamel covering the dentine in teeth and ultimately cause teeth to dissolve.
参考译文：
英国牙科杂志一篇论文发现含有酸性添加剂的产品会侵蚀牙齿珐琅质。
研究表明，通常作为甜食的健康替代品出售的无糖口香糖、糖果以及软饮料会损害牙齿，并能导致胃部问题，对减肥也并无效果。
BDJ（英国牙科杂志）的一篇研究评论发现，含有酸性添加剂的无糖食物和饮料可能会腐蚀牙齿珐琅质。
这个作者所揭露的内容可以称为一大“隐患”，会影响到无糖产品的销售，尤其是这篇论文中写到消费者盲目自信的认为这些是有益食物。
《无糖糖果对牙齿健康真的有益吗？》这篇论文测试了糖类替代品的作用，它们能降低牙齿侵蚀的风险。该论文说，现在人们普遍采用的替代品，如糖醇或者多元醇，确实能减轻蛀牙的风险，但是会增加口腔的酸度，进而侵蚀牙齿珐琅质。
这些替代品包括木糖醇，欧盟委员会早已经允许它作为口香糖中的护牙成分。木糖醇广泛用于英国销售的无糖产品。
波士顿、赫尔辛基和南内华达州大学的学者的文献综述声称：“随着含山梨醇和木糖醇的产品的增多，我们应该让公众得知酸性添加剂有导致牙酸蚀病的隐藏风险，并有能引起胃功能紊乱和渗透性腹泻的副作用。特别是在无糖产品中，这些副作用更为隐蔽，因为公众盲目的相信它们是有益于口腔健康的。”
它还说：“尽管对无糖产品中含有的酸性调味剂和防腐剂的关注较少，但这些添加剂对牙齿健康可能会产生副作用，如牙酸蚀病。此外，无糖这个说法可能会产生误导，人们会不假思索的认为无糖产品对牙齿有益。”
这篇论文提出了更广泛的问题，为了产品的销售而做出的这些与健康有关的声明是可以信赖的，BDJ的总编史蒂芬•汉考克斯说。“这些声明可能就为了解释这个，并且研究的相关论据正好可以支撑这种观点，但是这能充分证明这是正确的吗，或者，还有那些证明不了的呢？无糖似乎表明糖果或者其他产品是护牙的，但是这并不是理所当然的证据，”他在一篇评论中这样描述他的发现。
考虑到无糖产品会侵蚀牙齿珐琅质，它们能帮助人们消耗更少的卡路里的这种看法也受到质疑，他继续说，“结果是，试图尽力来遵从健康选择的病人处在一种混乱的状态，专业人员试图传达切实可行的建议时也遭遇了复杂的状况。”
达米安•沃姆斯利教授，英国牙医协会——牙医的代表——的科学顾问，说过多的食用含有水果调味剂的无糖产品会侵蚀牙齿表面的珐琅质，并最终导致牙齿腐烂。
原文链接：Sugar-free drinks and chewing gum may cause damage to teeth
