Eating yogurt and other foods laden with lactic acid may keep your gums from receding and teeth from falling out, Japanese researchers report.
 
    Eating yogurt and other foods laden with lactic acid may keep your gums from receding and teeth from falling out, Japanese researchers report.
Dr. Yoshihiro Shimazaki and colleagues found that consuming yogurt and lactic acid drinks was significantly associated with better periodontal health.

    "But, milk and cheese were not," Shimazaki said.

    Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial condition associated with receding gums and tooth loss. Outside of regular brushing and flossing, effective measures to allay this disease are limited, Shimazaki, of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, and colleagues note in the Journal of Periodontology.

    Previous research identified a lower occurrence of periodontal disease among people who eat high amounts of dairy products, but did not identify which dairy products were most beneficial, the researchers report.

    Shimazaki's team assessed the severity of periodontal disease in 942 men and women, aged 40 to 79 years, and their intake of milk, cheese, and lactic acid foods.

    They found that people with generalized (more advanced) periodontal disease had a lower intake of lactic acid foods than people with localized (less advanced) periodontal disease.

    Compared with individuals reporting no lactic acid food intake, those eating 55 grams or more of yogurt (half an 6-ounce carton) or lactic acid drinks a day had significantly fewer markers of severe periodontal disease. The investigators made allowances for factors such as age, gender, smoking, alcohol intake, frequency of tooth brushing, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

    日本研究人員日前稱，吃酸奶等富含乳酸的食物能防止牙齦萎縮和牙齒脫落。

    喜田島崎博士及其同事發現，喝酸奶及其它乳酸飲料能顯著改善牙周健康。

    島崎博士說：“但牛奶和乳酪沒有這種功效。”

    牙周病是一種慢性細菌感染性疾病，會引起牙床萎縮和牙齒脫落。日本福岡九州島大學的島崎教授及其同事在《牙周病學》期刊中提到，除了勤刷牙和用牙線清潔牙齒外，能夠有效緩解這一疾病的方法比較有限。
    
    研究人員在報告中稱，此前的研究發現，食用大量乳制品的人患牙周病的幾率較低，但未發現哪種乳制品的作用最突出。

    島崎教授領導的研究小組對942名年齡在40歲至79歲之間的男性和女性進行了調查，主要對他們所患牙周炎的嚴重程度以及攝入的牛奶、乳酪和乳酸類食品量進行了評估。

    他們發現，彌漫性重度牙周炎患者所攝入的乳酸類食品量比局限性輕度牙周炎患者少。

    與自稱從不吃乳酸類食品的人相比，每天攝入酸奶或其它乳酸飲品55克或更多的人有嚴重牙周病癥狀的明顯較少。研究人員還考慮到了年齡、性別、吸煙、飲酒、刷牙頻率、血糖及膽固醇水平等各項因素。

    Vocabulary: 

    be laden with:富含……

    fall out: 脫落

    intake:攝入量

    make allowances for:考慮到……