Sorry, Kombucha fans: Dentists say it’s Ruining our Teeth

Another point is that it is not as effective to add PROBIOTICS as it is to think in terms of introducing PRE-Biotics.  Think raw foods before a meal, such as a salad. Every culture throughout time had serves a salad before or after a meal. My whole life I have always eaten a banana about 20 minutes or so before each meal. I eat a lot of salads, and for breakfast I always have lemon or lime water when I wake up and then have a banana before I enjoy a cup of coffee. I also do that southern thing of having sliced tomatoes with almost every meal, even breakfast.

Photo by Klara Avsenik on Unsplash

Billed as a “healthy” drink, the fermented tea could be worse than soda for your oral health

For many new age-y health enthusiasts, probiotic drinks like kombuchaare an intrinsic part of a healthy lifestyle.

Kombucha, which is a fermented sweetened tea made of a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) that grow inside a semi-permeable membrane, is said to aid digestion, boost immunity, reduce inflammation, increase energy, and even alleviate anxiety and depression, among other (oft-dubious) claims. Since its rise in popularity over the last ten years, kombucha can be found on the shelves of nearly every grocery store, especially health food stores like Whole Foods. The kombucha market around the world is expected to reach $5.45 billion by 2025.

However, the rise in this drink among the health conscious has come with a price: your teeth. Some dentists are noticing a rise in eroded enamel coinciding with kombucha’s popularity, questioning its so-called miraculous impact.

“Kombucha is nearly as acidic as a pop and energy drinks,” Dr. Bobby J. Grossi, an author, motivational speaker and founder of the Grossi Institute for Dental Assisting, told Salon. “Acidic drinks mess with the PH level of the saliva which ideally should be 7 or 7.3, when the saliva level becomes more acidic it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria which can take over the mouth.”

This bacteria, Grossi said, causes erosion of the enamel, plaque accumulation which can lead to both gum disease or tooth decay. Grossi added sugary drinks weaken your teeth.

The acid in kombucha is crucial for the bacteria’s survival, which makes this a challenging issue for manufacturers to solve. Dr. Greg Grobmyer of AuthorityDental.org, who has a DDS from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, told Salon it is nearly as acidic as soda, too. “It is not uncommon to see ‘pitting’ in the enamel of someone who drinks a lot of kombucha,” he told Salon.

Pitting occurs on the surface of a tooth and usually leads to decay.

“We suggest rinsing your mouth with water after drinking kombucha to wash away the acidic compounds it may leave behind and not eating or brushing for at least 30 minutes afterwards, allowing your tooth enamel to remineralize and reharden,” Grobmyer said.

When asked if it is better or worse, Grossi said he does not believe it’s either-or between kombucha and soda.

“Both drinks are very acidic and have a lot of sugar in them,” Grossi said. “I am a firm believer that water and milk are the drinks of choice.”

“I also recommend always drinking water with a fresh lemon in it to help create a more alkaline environment, not only in your mouth but in your bloodstream,” Grossi said.

Overall, it seems the jury is still out when it comes to kombucha’s purported health benefits.

While studies do show that probiotic foods are good for your digestion and gut health, other studies have called into question kombucha’s healthfulness. A 2014 academic journal article, published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, states: “Most of [kombucha’s] benefits were studied in experimental models only, and there is a lack of scientific evidence based on human models.”

Given that dentists constitute the front lines of our oral health, it might be wise to heed their observations.

Nicole Karlis

Nicole Karlis is a news writer at Salon. She covers health, science, tech and gender politics. Tweet her @nicolekarlis.

Coffee’s Effects on Our Endocannabinoid System

• Photo source: Unsplash.com
• By Amy Loriaux, www.labroots.com
• April 23rd, 2019

Daily consumption of caffeine is seen as a “normal” addiction, er, habit. It doesn’t seem to pose any deleterious health effects, and, tolerance and withdrawal aside, many people can stay on a daily “maintenance dose” of coffee without any adverse consequences. That common perception, however, may be challenged based on data suggesting that caffeine can affect our newly discovered physiological system: the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

A study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine last year by Dr. Marilyn C. Cornelis and colleagues of Northwestern University studied the metabolome (a profile of metabolites) of 47 habitual coffee consumers across 3 months. For the first month, the study participants were to abstain for coffee (that must have been painful). In the second month, the participants were instructed to drink four cups a day and in the third month, they had to drink eight cups a day. Scientists measured the level of different metabolites in the participants’ fasting serum at each month.

The researchers found a total of 115 metabolites associated with coffee intake. These metabolites tend to be associated with a particular biological pathway. The scientists mapped the metabolites to 33 known pathways. Eighty-two of the 115 metabolites found had already been identified. Researchers observed a significant increase of metabolites related to 5 specific pathways: xanthine metabolism; benzoate metabolism; steroid metabolism; fatty acid metabolism and endocannabinoid metabolism.

These metabolites could be traced back to their sources (for example, xanthine metabolism produces caffeine metabolites). Some were previously unknown to be related to coffee metabolism. For instance, it had not been previously reported that fatty acid metabolism was involved in coffee metabolism. What was especially surprising was the finding of metabolites related to the ECS. What would the ECS have to do with coffee? And what does it mean for the ECS?

Metabolites related to the ECS decreased in response to coffee consumption. This is despite the fact that caffeine has not been shown to activate common endocannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2). However, that fact does not preclude the observed reduction in metabolites related to the ECS. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that there is something else that decreases ECS function: chronic stress. What does this have to do with coffee?

Caffeine can induce a stress response in some individuals. The ECS is thought to maintain several biological and psychological processes, and stress is one of them. Prolonged stress can decrease the function of the ECS. So, is there a coffee-stress-ECS connection? This is probably an overly simplistic interpretation of the data. In fact, stress appears to have a bidirectional effect on the production of certain endocannabinoids. Stress can increase the production of the endocannabinoid anandamide but decrease the production of 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG).

The “why” and the “how” of the decrease in ECS-related metabolites are not yet understood. The authors concede that this is merely an observation, or a starting point, if you will, for further research. At most, they suggest that the reduction of coffee metabolites processed by the ECS may be due to a desensitization of the ECS to coffee. Furthermore, this does not address the effects of phytocannabinoids, such as CBD or THC, may have in combination with caffeine intake. So, until that data comes out, maybe order a grande instead of a venti?

Source: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Journal of Internal Medicine, Drug Discovery Today, Neuropsychopharmacology, Journal of Caffeine Research, Nature Reviews: Neuroscience,

Chocolate is Better for Your Cough Than Cough Syrup, Study Says

It may sound too good to be true, but researchers now say indulging in that piece of chocolate is actually the best cure for your cough.

A research group from a university in England randomly prescribed more than 160 patients either regular cough medicine or a chocolate-based medicine.

Patients on the chocolate-based medication reported improving more quickly than those on regular cough syrup.

Scientists believe the properties of cocoa help relieve irritation and inflammation.

Preferably make it DARK and RAW chocolate, which is WAY healthier than milk or conventional chocolate!

Blow to Low Carb Diet as Landmark Study Finds High Fiber Cuts Heart Disease Risk- But It Matters Where the Fiber Comes From!

Eating more fiber, found in fruits, vegetables, herbs as well as nuts and pulses, will cut people’s chances of heart disease and early death, according to a landmark review commissioned by the World Health Organization. Many organizations recommend more grains and breads, but these are mostly empty carbs.  You want 80% of the volume of food you eat each day to be fruits, veggies, salads and herbs. This will give you the fiber you need as well as an abundance of nutrients, enzymes and phyto-chemicals.

The authors of the review, which will inform forthcoming WHO guidelines, say their findings are good news – but incompatible with fashionable low-carb diets.

The research is led by Prof Jim Mann’s team at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who also carried out the major review that informed WHO guidance on curbing sugar in the diet, leading to sugar taxes around the world.

Sugar is a “bad” carbohydrate, but fiber is found in “good” carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, salads and herbs. However, the overwhelming backlash against sugar has led to popular diets that reject carbohydrates, including the fibrous sort that can, say the scientists, save lives.

Mann told the Guardian that the research “does contribute to the debate considerably. Here we have got very strong evidence that a high-fiber diet, which for the majority of people is at least high-ish in carbohydrates, has an enormous protective effect – a wide range of diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer benefit from a high-carbohydrate diet.”

But he said it would not end the “diet wars”, because there were so many vested interests involved. “It’s twofold. There is the commercial vested interest, which there is an enormous amount of from chefs and celebrity chefs and so on. And there is also the professional vested interest.” This included some doctors and scientists, he said.

The review found that we should be eating at least 25g to 29g of fiber a day, with indications that over 30g is even better. Most people in the world manage less than 20g.

Among those who ate the most fiber, the analysis found a 15-30% reduction in deaths from all causes, as well as those related to the heart, compared with those eating the least fiber.

Coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer were reduced by 16-24%. The results mean 13 fewer deaths and six fewer cases of coronary heart disease for every 1,000 people who eat high-fiber foods compared with those who do not.

Minimally processed fibrous foods can also help people lose weight. “The randomised controlled trials involving an increase in the intake of fruits and vegetables showed reduction in body weight and cholesterol,” says the paper published in the Lancet medical journal.

“Fiber-rich whole foods that require chewing and retain much of their structure in the gut increase satiety and help weight control and can favorably influence lipid and

The researchers investigated 185 observational studies containing data that related to 135m person years, as well as 58 clinical trials involving 4,635 adults. For every 8g increase in dietary fiber eaten per day, total deaths and incidences of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer decreased by 5-27%. Protection against stroke and breast cancer also increased.

In a comment piece in the Lancet, Prof Gary Frost from Imperial College London said the analysis “provides compelling evidence that dietary fiber from fruits and vegetables major determinants of numerous health outcomes and should form part of public health policy”.

But only 9% of the UK population eat the large amounts of fiber outlined in the paper, he said, and “public health bodies face considerable challenges altering intake at the population level”.

Other scientists backed the findings and said the public should eat more fiber. “It is a concern that the fiber consumption in the UK is on average, currently much less than [30g a day]. It is also worrying that otherwise healthy consumers who try to follow popular diets low in carbohydrate will find it very difficult to achieve a healthy level of fiber intake,” said Dr Ian Johnson, emeritus fellow at the Quadram Institute Bioscience.

Prof Nita Forouhi of Cambridge University’s MRC epidemiology unit said the findings “do imply that, though increasingly popular in the community at large, any dietary regimes that recommend very low-carbohydrate diets should consider the opportunity cost of missing out on fiber from whole grains”.

When it came to carbohydrates, she said, “the quality matters very much, over and above the debate on quantity. Wholegrain foods are typically high in fiber, and this research provides further evidence to highlight their importance and support a shift in our diets from processed and refined foods in the food supply chain towards more fiber-rich fruits and vegetables.”