According to American nutritional guidelines, adults should eat about five servings of fruits and veggies daily to maintain good health. However, there is some discussion as to how many fruit servings are good for you. If you are getting all of your vitamins and minerals from fruit rather than a combination of fruit and vegetables, you may be risking your dental health. Here are some reasons to keep your fruit intake to two or three servings a day.
What Are the Benefits of Fruit?
Eating fruit has several benefits. First, eating a variety of fruits gives you fiber in your system, which can help with weight management. Also, fruit provides vitamins and minerals that are vital to your overall health and your dental health, such as vitamins C and A. Both vitamin C and vitamin A help cut down on both infection and inflammation in your body. Fruit can even lower both your cholesterol and your blood pressure.
So Why Can I Not Eat All the Fruit I Want?
While eating fruit is beneficial, eating too much fruit can cause problems for your dental health because fruit has natural sugar. All sugar, whether natural or refined, can cause the bacteria in your mouth to rapidly multiply. The harmful bacteria located in your mouth can cause cavities and periodontal disease. The more sugar you eat, the more likely the bacteria in your mouth cause your gum disease and cavities.
If the sugar in fruit is not a large enough problem, you also need to contend with the problem of many types of food - acids. Natural acids, such as citric acid, can erode your tooth enamel over time. All citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruit, contain a lot of citric acid.
Next Steps
If you want to continue to enjoy your fruit, here are a couple of tips. First, if you brush and floss your teeth after you eat fruit, you cut down on your bacteria levels. Drinking water helps as well. Are you concerned about how much fruit you are eating? We can help. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment with our dentist.
Esthetic Smiles - Dr. John Abajian, DDS, 1901 N. Solar Dr. Suite 135, Oxnard, CA 93036 / 805-365-4222 / myestheticsmile.com / 12/1/2024 / Tags: dentist Oxnard CA /
According to American nutritional guidelines, adults should eat about five servings of fruits and veggies daily to maintain good health. However, there is some discussion as to how many fruit servings are good for you. If you are getting all of your vitamins and minerals from fruit rather than a combination of fruit and vegetables, you may be risking your dental health. Here are some reasons to keep your fruit intake to two or three servings a day.