Diet, Dental Caries and Other Degenerative Diseases

Mankind was introduced to dental caries and degenerative diseases approximately 10,000 BC, when the diet changed as a result of moving from a hunter-gatherer to the agriculture life style. The same phenomena occurred when primitive people on primitive diets and basically free of dental caries and degenerative diseases were introduced to the modern diet. Current data generated by the US government in the NHANES study, show that dental caries in children precede degenerative diseases later in life. Other studies are finding some degenerative changes in adolescence. Thus, diet and dental caries should be given greater importance as they can be an indicator of the probability of future degenerative diseases. The Neanderthals (230,000-30,000 BP) show the presence of caries, which suggests dietary conditions compatible with the consumption of some cariogenic carbohydrates, despite the huntergatherer lifestyle and the cold climate existing during the Middle Paleolithic [14]. The beginning of the “Neolithic” or New Stone Age period occurred around 10,000 B.C. and is defined by the new way of life based on the production of food from domesticated species. It appears at different times and regions around the world during this time [14]. This was probably necessary to feed a growing population, as hunting and gathering can support one person per 10 square miles, whereas, Neolithic agriculture can support 100 times more [15,16]. Lanfranco and Eggers reviewed many studies on the frequency of caries in prehistoric man and summarized the findings as follows: hunter-gathers had a caries frequency ranging from 0-5.3; fisherman 0.4-10.3 and farmers 2.2-26.9 [14]. While there are disputes among investigators as to the method of gathering data, the trend is clear, as the diet changed, the amount of dental caries increased. Of great importance for the hunter-gather, they rarely died of coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among other ailments common in societies like ours. They may not have been healthier in absolute terms, but they were absent infection and osteoarthritis and rarely had chronic diseases that we commonly have [17]. Caselitz analyzed the historical evolution of caries in 518 human populations of Europe, Asia and America in a wide timeline from the Paleolithic to the present, confirming that during Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, the hunter-gatherers had less caries and lesions progressed more slowly [11]. Caries indices have increased gradually from Neolithic times, until they reach the high rates observed at the present. Remarkable caries increments occurred during the second half of the 19th century, when dramatic increases in the intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates between 1830 and 1880 [16,18]. In most respects, the changes in diet from hunter-gatherer times to agricultural times have been almost all detrimental. With the much heavier reliance on starchy foods that became the staples of the diet, tooth decay, malnutrition, and rates of infectious disease increased dramatically over Paleolithic times, further exacerbated by crowding leading to even higher rates of communicable infections [19]. George E. White* Health Professions Division, College of Dental Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, FL, USA *Address for Correspondence George E. White, Professor, DDS, PhD, DBA, MAGD, FAAPD, FICD, FACD, FACN, Health Professions Division, College of Dental Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Post Graduate Pediatric Clinic, 819 East 26th Street Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, FL 33305, USA, Tel: 9545675650; E-mail: [email protected] Submission: 25 May 2015 Accepted: 17 June 2015 Published: 20 June 2015 Review Article Open Access Journal of Oral Biology