Drink 100% Juice…At Your Own Risk

Recently Forbes online published an article:

Pure Juice Won’t Rot Your Kids’ Teeth

It made the author’s top 5 most popular articles, and to date has received thousands of views. The article was based on the information from this study that concluded:

“Our study findings are consistent with those of other studies that show consumption of 100 percent fruit juice is not associated with early childhood caries.” HOWEVER it is SO important to know that  the study was based on the consumption of 4-6oz a day as depicted in the picture below.

Now, I am a mom of 2 little kids, and 4-6 oz is nothing in the world of preschool drinking habits. Many dentists are worried that the overly-confident headline of the Forbes article is going to mislead parents. We all know that giving kids juice is the easy option, but so much research has shown how sipping on sugary and acidic beverages is terrible for our teeth.

Our advice?

Don’t throw the healthy teeth out with the tap water based on this misleading headline.  Be the smart parent you are and say no to juice whenever you can.  If you do say yes, let it be 100%, use a straw, and finish up the 4-6 oz during lunch or snack time.

FYI, here is a table of common drinks and their pH and sugar per 6 oz.

This blog post was originally posted on carifree.com/blog