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Chemicals in red wine could help fend off the bugs that cause tooth decay and gum disease, research suggests

This might just be the best news you’ve had all week.

New research suggests that chemicals in red wine could provide an unexpected route to healthier teeth and gums.

In laboratory tests, the polyphenol plant compounds were found to fend off the bugs that cause tooth decay and gum disease.

But you can’t start using red wine as mouth wash just yet. The chemicals used in the study were much higher concentrations than occur naturally in wine, and exposure times were more than 24 hours.

The research is said to shed light on the roles of “good” and “bad” mouth bacteria which could in turn help in approaches to improving oral health.

<em>Good news – the chemicals in red wine help fend off the bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease (Pictures: Getty)</em>
Good news – the chemicals in red wine help fend off the bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease (Pictures: Getty)

The Spanish research team from the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid investigated two specific red wine polyphenols – caffeic and p-coumaric acid.

Both effectively stopped harmful bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingavalis sticking to human cells simulating gum tissue.

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That kind of microbial adherence to teeth and gums is a major factor in the build up of plaque and the development of gum disease and tooth decay.

The polyphenols were even better at combating harmful mouth bacteria when combined with a beneficial probiotic bug called Streptococcus dentisani.

<em>Oral health – the study is said to shed light on the roles of “good” and “bad” mouth bacteria which could in turn help in approaches to improving oral health</em>
Oral health – the study is said to shed light on the roles of “good” and “bad” mouth bacteria which could in turn help in approaches to improving oral health

Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the scientists concluded: “Our study, based on an in-vitro (laboratory) model of bacterial adherence results, is very useful as an initial approach to go deeper into the mechanisms of action of red wine polyphenols against oral diseases.”

The compounds studied are also found in coffee, grape juice and cranberry juice.

Catherine Collins, from the British Dietetic Association, said: “Unfortunately there’s no ‘lab bench to lifestyle’ recommendation today from this study.

“We might now sip red wine or coffee without guilt, but none of us hold drinks in our mouth for 24 hours at a time to reproduce this particular study method.

“And though the researchers showed their ‘wine extract’ polyphenols to be safe in terms of cell cultures, in real life the alcohol present alongside these red wine polyphenols not only has a bacteriocidal effect (hence the basis of alcohol mouthwashes), but is also an independent risk factor for mouth cancer.

“If you decide on cranberry juice, it’ll deliver useful polyphenols – but with sugar and fruit acids which enhance the risk of tooth decay.

“Bottom line? Enjoy your sugar-free coffee, and even red wine, but the fact we drink them over a relatively short period of time means that for the short time they’ll spend in our mouth their influence on types of mouth bacteria will be limited.”