Sport drinks and dental decay
As we rush out the door to the gym or our spin class clutching our sports drink – have we stopped and given our teeth a thought? Probably not. Our teeth are taking a hammering in our attempts to become healthy and fit. Do we really need those sports drinks?
Every time we snack or sip on our sports drink we are feeding not only ourselves but the bacteria in our mouth. These bacteria produce acid which lowers the pH in our mouth and saliva. The drinks frequently also contain acid for flavouring adding to the acid problem. As our mouth becomes more acidic the mineral of our teeth begins to dissolve. Keep doing this and we begin to see small demineralised white patches develop on our teeth. Carry on and the white patches become holes and we need the trot off to the dentist for a fix up.
So how is it then that we don’t constantly get holes in our teeth with eating? Our body has a built in rescue measure – saliva. Saliva returns the lost minerals to our teeth following an acid attack. Antibacterial factors contained in the saliva help keep the plaque levels under control, but only to a certain level. Saliva also neutralizes the acid after eating; however this takes time, around about 2 hours to return to a level where further damage doesn’t occur.
Back to the gym class and we are sipping away on our sports drink, finish the class and carry on home with our bottle continually sipping to prevent dehydration. Nice idea on the dehydration front, but horrible on the teeth front. Our teeth have now been exposed to large amounts of acid without giving our mouth a chance to recover. This becomes more of an issue in athletes who are also eating regularly for energy while training. So not only are we adding acid and sugar, but our saliva levels are also compromised due to being dehydrated, so double whammy for the teeth.
Do we need sports drinks?
If you are training for less than 1- 1.5 hours, then no, you don’t need a sports drink. So swap the sports drink for just water and you will be doing yourself a huge favor. You also do not need a sports drink (or any flavoured drink) to just wander around with during the day sipping on. This is resulting in a huge increase in tooth decay levels. If you feel you must have flavoured water then sit down, drink it and then move on. Don’t wander around sipping – you are constantly exposing yourself to increased acid levels.
If you are training for more than 1-1.5 hours in a session, then yes, you should consider a sports drink. But how then do we protect our teeth now knowing the dangers of constant exposure to acid.
1. Always brush and floss your teeth before exercising – this will remove the amount of plaque and bacteria present as a starting point.
2. Drink and eat as instructed during the training session.
3. Finish with a drink of plain water to rehydrate quickly and begin neutralising the acid level. Also think about a sugar free chewing gum to stimulate saliva flow.
4. If you need to eat after training consider having a dairy product, in particular some cheese to help prevent tooth decay.
5. Avoid brushing your teeth immediately after exercising, the enamel is softer after the acid attack and brushing can remove small amounts of this softened enamel. Leave it for at least half an hour before brushing.
6. Ensure you are brushing and flossing regularly – at least twice a day.
7. Have regular dental check ups and hygiene appointments.
8. Consider some products such as a Savacol mouthwash (no more than once weekly), a fluoride mouthwash and a calcium product such as Tooth Moose (available from dentists) to keep bacteria levels under control and add mineral to your teeth.
Sports drinks are not necessary in our daily life – we survived without them previously. Get back to good old water for a healthy, happy smile.
Seafood Chowder
A hearty soup that warms the cockles at this time of year. Works well with either smoked or fresh fish.
Ingredients
1 large onion finely chopped
1 potato peeled and chopped
1 large carrot peeled and finely chopped
1 large stalk of celery including the leaves finely chopped
½-1 cup of wine
½-1 cup water (or fish stock)
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp paprika
Ground pepper
Approx 1-2 kilos of fish (skinned, deboned and cut into small bite size pieces), scallops, mussels, prawns or any other seafood that appeals
1 can Carnation’s light and creamy condensed milk
1 Tbsp corn flour
Instructions
Gently soften the onion in a little oil
Add the water, wine, potatoes, carrots and celery and simmer until the potatoes are cooked and soft. You may need to add more water as it cooks.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, paprika, pepper and seafood. Stir through until cooked.
Mix the corn flour with a little of the condensed milk, add with the remaining milk into the seafood mix and stir through, allow to gently simmer.
Serve with thick grainy bread for a filling meal.
Had your glass of milk today?
Osteoporosis affects a vast number of New Zealand’s population – nearly half of all females over the age of 60 and up to a third of men. Often we know nothing of it until we break a bone. Because of it’s quiet, unnoticed approach it is easy to ignore until we begin having problems. Instead, we should be focusing on this throughout our life.
Bone is alive and is constantly being broken down and repaired and regenerated by our bodies. Our entire skeleton can be replaced by weight over period of 7-10 years.
From the ages 9-18 yrs we should aim to eat 1300mg of calcium a day, as this is the time when we deposit the majority of calcium (around 90%) in our bones. We reach our peak bone mass at around 30 years. Aim to maintain our bones with 1000mg a day (19-50yrs).
New research has suggested that the risk of fractures later in life may actually be also influenced before we are even born. Maternal nutrition (low calcium and vitamin D), smoking, lack of physical activity and low birth weight play a role in baby’s likelihood to develop osteoporosis. (Aim for 1000-1300mg calcium during pregnancy)
As we age the loss of calcium from bones is accelerated, particularly in females after menopause, so an increased amount of calcium is required (1300mg). Men over 70 should also aim for this amount.
So to reduce the risk of osteoporosis – look at eating a balanced diet, and getting a little sunlight each day for vitamin D, which helps absorb calcium. Give up smoking – smokers have an increased risk of osteoporosis. Ensure you exercise regularly including weight bearing exercise such as walking, weights, dancing and running. Limit your coffee, soda drinks, salt and alcohol.
To achieve our recommend daily intake of calcium is surprisingly easy, aim for 2-3 serves of dairy foods a day as part of a balanced diet. So have a count of your daily dairy food intake and see if you should be improving your intake.
It is not necessary to limit yourself to Dairy products for calcium. Here are some examples of sources of calcium.
Sources of Calcium
Sardines 1 small can 120g 550mg
Milk fortified 200ml 400mg
Milk light blue 200ml 280mg
Ruhbarb 1 cup 250mg
yoghurt 1 pottle 150ml 245mg
Soy milk fortified 200ml 240mg
Mussels 80g 130mg
Tofu 125g 130mg
Tinned salmon 120g 110mg
Almonds 1/4 cup 95mg
Bread wholemeal 2 slices 80mg
Broccoli 1 cup cooked 60mg
Vietnamese summer rolls
These are the fresh version of Vietnamese spring rolls. They are completely adaptable to any veges or meat you may have in the fridge. Quick, easy and a really social type of meal
Ingredients
Rice papers
Tiger prawns – cooked with sweet chilli sauce and ginger
100gm vermicelli – boil for 3-5 minutes till al dente
Lettuce
Cucumber sliced into thin slices into matchsticks
Carrots – peeled and sliced into matchsticks
Spring onions sliced into matchsticks
Fresh mint, Vietnamese mint or coriander
Dipping sauce – Nuoc cham
100ml fish sauce
50ml palm sugar or brown sugar
100ml lime or lemon juice
½ clove garlic finely sliced or chopped
½ – 1 fresh read chilli – deseeded and chopped or sliced into thin rounds
Method
Soak 1-2 rice papers in a large flat dish of room temperature water until soft and pliable – about 1-2 minutes.
Lay the rice paper on a clean tea towel and lay a small amount of each of the above ingredients to one side of the paper.
Roll the rice paper and ingredients up into a tight roll.
Serve with Nuoc cham dipping sauce, sweet chilli dipping sauce or a Satay sauce.
Salt
Boring – we have heard it all before, lower our salt intake blah blah blah. Yes, the old salt reduction message has been around for a while but is probably due for a re-address again. Did you know that decreasing salt intake has more potential to decrease the risk of death or disability than stopping smoking? Now that’s quite a statement. This is due to the majority of the population being exposed to salt everyday.
As we age we expect our blood pressure to rise and that we will probably just take a few pills to keep that under control. Maybe looking at decreasing our salt intake now could be a better option than just relying on those pills later in life. Populations that have low salt intake do not experience increased blood pressure with ageing, and have significantly lower risk of strokes and heart attacks.
The average salt intake for a Kiwi is around 9g per day. We are advised to keep our intake to around 5-6g per day; however this is not the optimal intake. The optimal intake would be only 1-2g per day. Most of our salt intake (75-80%) comes from processed and brought meals. This is where it becomes important to read labels and packets to select those products with the lowest salt contents. For example, 2 slices of bread contain nearly half the salt we require in a day. So start reading those packets. By reducing the salt intake the positive effects are both immediate but also long lasting on blood pressure. Try only adding a small pinch while cooking or none at all. Don’t even put the salt shaker on the dinner table. Sure it will taste different at first but with a bit of time you will enjoy the taste of the meal, not just the salt.
