德国研发出防蛀牙糖果 牙齿越吃越健康

德国柏林一家公司研发了一种防蛀牙糖果，这对那些喜欢吃甜食的人真是好消息。

这家公司指出，其实并不是糖果或者糖引起龋齿和蛀牙，而是牙齿表面正常的菌群在你吃过糖后会分泌酸，然后你的牙釉质就有了洞。正常的细菌中对你牙齿最有害的是变形链球菌，所以如果你能减少它们存在于你口腔里的量，你就能有效抑制龋齿的发生。

研究人员制造了一种无糖的糖果，其中含有一种能在口腔中减少变形链球菌的益生菌。在参与测试的60个志愿者中，有四分之三的人在吃过这个糖果一天后，口腔里的变形链球菌就显著减少了。

It may sound too good to be true, but German researchers have created a sugar-free candy they say can actually fight cavities.

The development, reported by Medical News Today, involves lacing the candy with dead "good" bacteria that bind to "bad" cavity-producing bacteria in the mouth to block tooth decay.

Researchers from the Berlin-based firm Organobalance GmbH, who developed the candy, noted the human mouth contains a variety of good and bad bacteria. Mouthwashes, along with brushing, flossing, and cleaning our teeth help to knock out cavity-causing, gum-damaging bad bacteria, while allowing beneficial oral bacteria to thrive.

Poor oral health has been linked to many health conditions, from heart disease to Alzheimer's to pancreatic cancer.

In new research published in the journal Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins, the German researchers noted bacteria that remain on the surface of the teeth after we eat release acids, which can dissolve the tooth enamel, leading to cavities. The most common strain of these "bad" bacteria are called Mutans streptococci. But another bacteria called Lactobacillus paracasei reduce levels of the cavity-causing bacteria in animal studies, decreasing the number of cavities.

The team, led by Christine Lang, sought to determine if binding the two bacteria together would prevent this bad bacteria from reattaching to the teeth, causing them to get washed away by saliva.

In a study involving 60 volunteers, Lang and her team tested whether their sugar-free candy, which contained heat-killed samples of L. paracasei, reduced levels of bad oral bacteria. One-third of the subjects ate candies with small amounts of the dead bacteria, a second group ate candies laced with higher levels, and a third ate bacteria-free candies.

All participants ate five candies during the two-day study and were not allowed to perform any oral hygiene activities during this time.

The results showed that nearly 75 percent of the participants who ate candies with the good bacteria had "significantly lower" levels of bad bacteria in their saliva than those who ate bacteria-free candy. In addition, the higher the levels of the bacteria in the candy, the greater the reduction of the bad bacteria.

"Additionally," the researchers added, "sugar-free candies stimulate saliva flow, a benefit to oral health."