Comparison of the intakes of sugars by young children with and without dental caries experience

Abstract

Background. Relationships among sugars and dental caries in contem-porary societies are unclear. The authors describe young children's intakes of nonmilk extrinsic (NME) and intrinsic/milk sugars and relate those intakes to dental caries. Methods. The authors conducted cross-sectional analyses of dietary data collected from the Iowa Fluoride Study using three-day diaries for subjects at ages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years and for subjects aged 1 through 5 years according to dental caries experience at 4.5 to 6.9 years of age. They categorized foods and beverages as containing NME or intrinsic/milk sugars. Results. Subjects' total, NME, food NME and intrinsic/milk sugars intakes at ages studied did not differ between subjects with and without caries experience. Beverage NME sugars intakes at age 3 years predicted caries (P