How Energy Drinks Destroy Your Teeth!
According to the April 21, 2008 Birmingham News, a new study just published in Dental journals reveals that the high-caffeine, high-sugar beverages that are very popular amongst teens are 3 to 10 times worse for your teeth than colas.
A professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School soaked teeth in energy drinks, fitness water, sports drinks and other beverages for 14 days, measuring decay. According to reports in General Dentistry and other trade publications, lemonade and energy drinks did the most damage.
The professor, Dr. Anthony von Fraunhofer, found lemonade and energy drinks contain high levels of acids that can destroy enamel.
Dr. John Ruby, a professor in the dental school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has done research that reached similar conclusions.
Ruby measured the pH levels, or acidity, of dozens of beverages. Energy drinks have such high levels of acid that he recommends consumers not even allow them to touch their teeth. If you must drink them, he said, use a straw.
"Sip those all day, and you're not going to have any teeth left," he said.
Drink manufacturers put acid into beverages to balance the sweetness of the sugar. A can of Coke includes 10 teaspoons of sugar, for example, Ruby said. Put that much sugar in a cup of coffee, and "you'd be gagging," it would be so sweet, he said. The acid makes it palatable.
Maybe drinking plain old water isn’t so bad after all…