Naturheilkräfte Red beet potion is said to help with tooth decay

Austrian students develop new drink for healthy teeth
Caries is one of the most common infectious dental diseases and can lead to discoloration, severe pain or even tooth loss. Above all, it is therefore important to have an early therapy by the dentist in order to stop the so-called "tooth rot" before severe damage occurs. Help can possibly provide a special drink here in the future. Because students of the University of Applied Sciences Wels found that the nitrate-rich juice from red beet can control the growth of lactic acid bacteria in the mouth.
95 percent of people in industrialized countries are affected by tooth decay
Almost everyone is affected by tooth decay at least once during their lifetime. This is an infectious dental disease caused mainly by bacteria in the mouth, which decompose the sugar from the diet into lactic acid. This attacks the tooth substance, which can lead to various symptoms such as whitish or brown spots, severe toothache, increased sensitivity or the loss of the affected tooth.

Beet juice can heal. Image: Dani Vincek - fotolia

Students develop "Bio Dragon Potion"
However, students of the Welser FH degree course Food Technology and Nutrition may now have discovered a new "wonder weapon" against tooth disease. As the FH reports, a special drink made from beets could apparently control the uncontrolled growth of lactic acid bacteria in the mouth and thus act against the unwanted caries. The students had analyzed in a research project together with the company Voglsam GmbH different sorts of healthy vegetables and finally developed from a suitable variety and other fruit juice components the "Bio Dragon Potion".

The special feature of the drink: The juice of the red beet contains relatively much nitrate, from which in the body by the nitrate-nitrite cycle nitrogen monoxide is formed. This "has a variety of tasks in our body. For example, it is important for vascular dilation or responsible for an active immune system, "explains Head of Studies FH-Prof. Dr. Otmar Höglinger. "However, this nitric oxide also plays a vital role in the control of lactic acid bacteria in our mouth. It controls the growth of lactic acid bacteria responsible for caries formation, "Höglinger continues.

Nitrate-nitrite cycle even after settling of the drink much more active
The students examined the effectiveness of the caries protection drink in a so-called double-blind study, which was carried out on 50 colleagues. Twenty-five students received a nitrate-free beet juice as a placebo drink, the other group received the nitrate-rich juice. It was found that by consuming the nitrate-rich drink, the nitrate-nitrite cycle was activated and even after weaning was still much more active than in the first group, according to the FH. "From this it can be concluded that beet juice leads to the fact that there is always enough nitrite to control the growth of lactic acid bacteria," reports Höglinger.

This could indirectly also be confirmed by the pH measured in the saliva. The value indicating the concentration of acids or bases was lower in the placebo group. "This indicates that more lactic acid is present and therefore an increased risk of tooth decay," the food technologist continues. In the subjects who had drunk the nitrate-rich juice, the higher pH, however, on a better protection against the tooth rot. (No)