“Pure blend.” “Organic.” “100% juice.” “Source of Vitamin C.”
That all sounds superb, right? At first glance, juice drinks appear healthy and suitable for children. Or maybe juice companies have good marketing teams?
Unfortunately, juice brands are very good at creating health misconceptions when it means more money in their pockets. There are many marketing campaigns around fruit juice being a “healthy” choice, which leads parents to believe children can drink as much juice as they’d like. After all, juice comes from natural fruits and veggies.
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Of course, this doesn’t paint the whole picture. What about the amount of sugar in your children’s favorite beverage? What about the effects on a child’s teeth? As a family dentist in West Haven and Layton, we’re passionate about educating parents so they can best take care of their children. Let’s take a look at the effects of Explore how fruit juice affects children’s dental health with insights from Utah family dentists. Read about safeguarding your child’s smile.excessive juice consumption.
Are Juices Bad for the Teeth?
You may be shocked to learn that many juices contain as much sugar as dark sodas, and some even have more. When sugary drinks bind to our mouth’s bacteria, they emit an acid that gradually wears down tooth enamel. This enamel wear can cause cavities, sensitivity, and tooth discoloration—all things we want to help our children avoid.
It doesn’t matter whether a drink contains natural sugars or added sugars; they will have the same impact on the teeth. This can surprise some parents. However, it’s important to note that the frequency of juice consumption matters more than the quantity consumed.
Reducing the Frequency of Juice Consumption
Frequency matters more than quantity. So many juice companies market their drinks as “health foods” with limited or zero added sugars. This can be great for your waistline, but less so for your teeth. When protecting your child’s pearly whites, the sugar content in a juice drink is not as important as the frequency with which your child drinks it.
When sipping a sugar-filled beverage, the acidity level (pH) in the oral cavity drops to a very high level for about 20 minutes. If a child sips on sugary beverages throughout their day, the acidity in their mouth will never neutralize back to a healthy level. It will stay at that destructive level, leading to cavities, sensitivity, and discoloration. One of the best defenses against cavities is limiting and monitoring your child’s sugary drink intake. Juice in moderation is OK, but only in one sitting, not sipped throughout the day. Even if you water down your child’s juice drinks, it’s still better for them to drink only at one time.
The Role of Fiber in Processing Sugar
Did you know that eating a piece of fruit in its entirety has more health benefits than drinking just the juice? When you juice a fruit, you leave behind dietary fiber that is found in the pulp and skin. Fiber plays a critical role in how your body processes sugar and how sugar passes through your gastrointestinal tract.
Without these healthy fibers, the natural sugars in fruit can spike blood sugar levels. Too much sugar fruit drinks can lead to headaches, fatigue, and even type 2 diabetes in severe cases. Whole fruits are always a better option than juice alone.
Even though some juices are full of vitamins that a child needs to grow and develop, the negative impact of sugar can outweigh the positive. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no juice in the diet at all for children under the age of one. Here are their juice guidelines for children:
- Under age one: No juice
- Ages 1-3: Four ounces of Juice daily
- Ages 4-6: Four to six ounces daily
- Ages 7-18: No more than eight ounces daily
Juice Tips For Children
- Treat juice as a treat instead of a regular part of their daily diet.
- Have them drink juice in one sitting with a meal instead of sipping it throughout the day.
- Avoid pouring juice in bottles or sippy cups they can carry around all day.
- Encourage them to drink through a straw to decrease sugar exposure to their teeth.
- Have them rinse with water after drinking juice to rinse off the sugar.
- Choose whole fruit over juice a majority of the time.
- Make sure water is their most consumed beverage.
The Best Juices for Your Teeth
If juice is one of your child’s favorite things in the world, and it’s a fight to get them to eat fruits and veggies in whole form, try to stick to juices that are lower in sugar. These can include vegetable juices. Dark green and leafy vegetable juices such as parsley, kale, and spinach contain vitamins and minerals that help to protect your teeth and prevent gum disease. The problem is that most kids despise these green juices. However, just like fruit, it’s better to eat whole vegetables than to juice them.
We know it’s unrealistic to shelter your child from all the juice and sugar in the world, and we’re not telling you to. Our motto is everything in moderation. We also know that if you do simple actions like putting juice only in a regular cup, only allowing juice in one sitting, rinsing your child’s mouth out with water after juice consumption, and designating water as your child’s primary source of hydration, you can make a substantial positive impact on your child’s dental health.
Being a parent is hard, but as Utah family dentists, we are so proud of parents when we see them teaching their children how to properly care for their teeth — a habit they will carry with them their whole lives.