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Dental Caries in the Cotton Rat

XII. Natural Versus Refined Sugars¹

Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Studies on the caries-producing action of natural foods when fed to cotton rats are presented.

A significant difference between the cariogenicity of natural or refined sugars has not been demonstrated. The incorporation of natural sugars into various purified and natural diets produced dental decay similar to that produced by refined sugars fed at equivalent levels.

A highly cariogenic diet consisting of oatmeal, dried whole milk and sugar is described. The importance of the physical state of the diet with respect to the cariogenicity of carbohydrates was shown in that feeding this diet in fluid form resulted in negligible caries scores. Further studies of this diet by altering the levels of various constituents indicated that under certain conditions complex carbohydrates may be as cariogenic as simple sugars.

Substitution of dextrin and casein for the milk of this basal oatmeal-milk diet resulted in increased caries production and in a decreased ash content of the bones, which suggest that minerals may play an important role in the cariogenic potential of diets.

The influence of natural or purified diets on plaque formation and the pigmentation of carious lesions is described. Differences of this type were not correlated with severity of decay but are definitely associated with the type of diet fed.

We are indebted to Merck and Co., Rahway, New Jersey, for the crystalline vitamins; to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois, for the halibut liver oil; and to the Wilson Laboratories, Chicago, for the 1: 20 liver extract used in these experiments.

Manuscript received 12 December 1950.