Researchers suspect antimicrobial molecules called catechins contained within green tea helps preserve teeth. People aged 40-64 who drank a single serving of green tea a day were not as likely to lose teeth. That's the finding of new research published in Preventive Medicine. The findings show that drinking one or more cup of green tea a day increases the likelihood of keeping your teeth while you age. The study suspects that antimicrobial molecules called catechins contained in green tea as well as in lesser amounts in oolong tea give you the benefit. But be cautious if you love your tea with sugar, sweetener may negate the result, the researchers found.

Green tea might have bactericidal effects, which could affect teeth, but as long as you drink it without sugar," said Alfredo Morabia, of Columbia University in New York and editor of Preventive Medicine, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new research. In addition, they reported that drinking sweet coffee was actually deleterious. Coffee alone had no problem, but sweet coffee would even make you lose your teeth.

Yasushi Koyama from the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine and colleagues studied more than 25,000 Japanese men and women between age 40 and 64 to generate the determination. They found that men who drank a minimum of one cup of tea each day were 19 percent not as likely to have less than 20 teeth compared to those who didn't drink green tea. Tea-drinking women had 13 percent lower chances. One possible explanation for the benefits of tea drinking is the fact that warm drinks wash out your mouth. But coffee, which also supplies a mouth rinse, had no benefit, suggesting something different is going on.

Catechins have been proved to kill mouth bacteria related to tooth decay and gum disease, therefore the researchers suspect this is exactly what gives green tea its dental benefits. Previous studies have indicated that regular consumption of green tea may result in a lower instance of periodontal disease, a leading reason behind tooth loss in adults.

Maintaining healthy gums and teeth is a part of maintaining a healthy body. That's the reason it is essential to find simple ways to boost periodontal health, for example regularly drinking green tea, something already recognized to possess certain health-related benefits.

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Steve Roski

MyHealthTea.com

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