Enamel protective factors in food.

There is almost universal agreement that caries is a disease of westernized conditions,1 although many of the data are uncritical or were collected inexpertly by archeologists and anthropologists. Although it is reasonable to assume that the chemical changes of the diet explain this effect of westernization, other aspects of feeding, such as, the timing of meals or the toughness of food or even nondietary differences, are difficult to exclude completely. There is no reason to believe that the same factors operate in all instances; eg, the traditional diet of the Eskimo contained no sugar and indeed virtually no carbohydrate, whereas the native diet of the African Bantu is high in carbohydrate, consisting largely of unrefined mealie meal.