Grapefruit is good for your gums
04/01/2006

Tucking into grapefruit on a regular basis could help to fight gum disease which is the biggest cause of teeth loss in adults.

Dentists found that people with gum disease who ate two grapefruits a day for a fortnight showed significantly less bleeding from the gums.

It is thought that vitamin C found in the fruit travels in the bloodstream to the site of the infection to fight off bacteria.

The study of 58 people - all with chronic gum disease - found that eating grapefruits had a positive effect on both smokers and non-smokers. Smoking is known to increase the risk of gum disease.

At the start of the two-week study, almost all those taking part had low levels of vitamin C in their blood plasma.

On average, the smokers' vitamin C level was 29 per cent lower than that of the nonsmokers.

Eating two grapefruits a day raised vitamin C plasma levels for all those in the study. In smokers, the level almost doubled, but because they started from a lower baseline, their average vitamin C level remained lower than the nonsmokers.

Vitamin C 'promotes healing'

The research, by Friedrich Schiller University in Germany, is published in the British Dental Journal.

Experts say the study reinforces previous research that if you have enough vitamin C in your diet, it tends to promote healing. Each grapefruit contains about 92.5 mg of vitamin C.

Other sources of vitamin C - including oranges, tomatoes, pineapples, broccoli, cantaloupe, cauliflower, asparagus, and strawberries - may be used instead of grapefruit.

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