Free sugars and early childhood caries development: a prospective cohort study

• Purpose To investigate the impact of giving children younger than 2 years foods and beverages with free sugars on the prevalence of early childhood caries at 5 years. Materials and methods The study group consisted of 208 children (105 boys and 103 girls) with a complete set of data on nursing, diet and caries from birth to 5 years. We collected feeding habits and dietary data through structured questionnaires at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months and the presence of decayed (d), missed (m) and filled (f) teeth was scored according to the WHO criteria at five years of age. We processed data with chi-square tests and expressed as relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results At the age of 5 years, 22% of the children had caries. Intake of fruit juice with meals (RR 2.3) and cookies or biscuits at 24 months of age (RR 2.4), as well as fast food consumption at least once every week (RR 2.9), more than doubled the risk for early childhood caries (p < 0.05). Conclusions Within the limitations of the present study, we found a relationship between consumption of free sugars early in life and dental caries prevalence at 5 years. It therefore seems important to embrace and emphasise the current sugar recommendations in primary and dental care to educate caregivers to avoid serving free sugars to their children before the age of 2 years.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Odontologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Dentistry (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Early childhood caries

Fruit juice

Preschool children

Risk factors

Sugars

dental-caries

Dentistry

Oral Surgery & Medicine

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)