Fruit teas can drastically damage your teeth, study finds

We’re all told to eat more fruit and at the same time we are reminded of the good and beneficial qualities of tea in our daily diet. Now the latest research seems to have indicated a problem with the idea of combing fruit and tea and states that fruit teas could actually be damaging our teeth.

The research conducted by King’s College in London found that sipping teas high in fruit juices can damage the enamel and eventually wear away the teeth themselves. The results of the clinical trial were published in the British Dental Journal and was based on a survey of over three hundred people who showed ‘severe erosive tooth wear’.

Fruit teas were not the only culprits discovered, as cordials, fruit squashes, sugared drinks and flavoured waters all contained sizeable amounts of citric acid. Furthermore people who normal drink water with a hint of lemon or hot fruit teas between meals were eleven times more likely to experience problems with their teeth than those that didn’t. The survey was not all bad news however, as it indicated that if you drank the fruit teas, flavoured waters and cordials at the same time as eating the figure was halved.

The King’s College researchers concluded that neutral drinks such as plain water and milk are fine as well as perhaps having a small amount of acid neutralising food, such as cheese, after drinking a fruit tea or similar can help with the threat of erosion.