What Should You Drink For Your Teeth?
You need to read your food labels!
Healthy teeth require a healthy diet, so when buying food products, it is important to check the nutrition labels to help you choose between products. It’s a great way to keep a check on the amount of food you’re eating that contain high fat, salt, and added sugars.
Did you know that some energy drinks are high in both sugar and caffeine? Drinking energy drinks blinds us to thinking that drinking them is a healthy decision. It’s best to check the labels on them to see what you’re actually consuming.
Are juices and smoothies a good choice?
Fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies contain a variety of vitamins that are good for your health. However, you want to aim for unsweetened 100% fruit juice or vegetable juice to reduce the intake of sugar. If you are ordering smoothies, you’ll have to ask them to go easy on the sugar as well. It’s best to drink them with a meal to help protect your teeth.
Juices and smoothies don’t contain the fiber found in whole fruits and vegetables. That’s why it is still essential to eat whole fruits and vegetables. The sugars found naturally in whole fruit are less likely to cause tooth decay because the sugar is contained within the structure of the fruit.
When fruit is juiced or blended, the sugars are released. Once released, these sugars can damage teeth, especially if you drink juice frequently. Even unsweetened fruit juice is sugary, so keep an eye on the amount of fruit juice and smoothies you consume.
According to NHS UK, the recommended dietary intake is a combined total of drinks from fruit juice, vegetable juice, and smoothies shouldn’t be more than 150ml a day – which is one small glass. So for example, if you have 150ml of orange juice and a 150ml smoothie in 1 day, you’ll have exceeded the recommendation by 150ml.
Water is still the best
Yes, there’s nothing like water. It is indeed the best choice for your teeth’s health because water is cheap, zero-calories, and contains no sugar at all that could pose a threat to your teeth.
If you want to change up your water choices you can try sparkling water or add a slice of lemon to your water. Alternatively, you could heat up some water and infuse a tea bag or fruit tea to change things up a bit.