About This Project

Sweetness in the form of sugar gives us so much happiness that we can't miss it in life. At the same time, we don't want to risk getting dental damage and other health issues. Based on many observations, my hypothesis is that unrefined sugar and whole grains will cause less change in the healthy microbiome compared to the refined white sugar and refined grains. This research study will help the public to make the right choice of sugar they want to use on a daily basis.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

For the past four years as part of my school Science Fair project, I have been doing research on dental damaging bacteria in the oral microbiome. It is now understood that increased dental damaging bacteria levels are caused by an imbalance or change in the oral microbiome. There are no studies that show a direct link between the type of sugar a person ingests and how that affects their oral microbiome. In this study we will give people desserts made with different kinds refined or unrefined sugar and refined and unrefined grains, and measure the microbiome of the subjects before and after.

What is the significance of this project?

Completely cutting out refined free sugars and carbs is not easy for the general public, in spite of epidemiological studies linking them to the occurrence of diabetes, obesity, cardio diseases and dental caries. Moreover, there is no study directly linking the change in oral microbiome upon eating free sugars. Most of these studies are in-vitro, epidemiological and cross-sectional studies including surveys data from communities and countries. A strong negative correlation with sugar consumption is also reported.

All these factors prompted me to carry out this study which can help public to decide on the type of sugar to be used. Moreover this could be the first study of this kind.

What are the goals of the project?

I have conducted the two trails of experiment with 75 subjects involving school children in India.

Group 1: Control

Group 2: White Rice, Refined white Sugar

Group 3: White Rice, Refined white Sugar + Mouthwash

Group 4: Red Rice, Unrefined Sugar (Jaggery)

Group 5: Red Rice, Unrefined Sugar (Jaggery) + Mouthwash

The subjects will do oral cleaning and will eat one of the rice (Red or white) cooked with sugar (refined or unrefined) as a pudding. After eating the sweet, groups 3 and 5 will use a charcoal mouthwash to adsorb sugar. Saliva and dental biofilm samples will be collected before and after 3 hours of eating the sweet, and then will be analyzed for change in oral microbiome (metagenomics) and also on the levels of fermented sugars (metabolomics).