Health

Ask the Dentist: Salad is good for our teeth and gums, too

Beware Greeks bearing gifts... unless it's Hippocrates and a Greek salad, says Lucy Stock of Gentle Dental Care

A Greek salad isn't only delicious but good for your dental health...
A Greek salad isn't only delicious but good for your dental health... A Greek salad isn't only delicious but good for your dental health...

AROUND 2,400 years ago, before the Kardashians turned eating salad into a skill, Hippocrates hit the nail on the head when he said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

The granddaddy of medicine believed that eating salad at the beginning of a meal would aid digestion by soothing the intestines and clearing the way for the main dishes.

Hippocrates would be doing a disco dance if he knew that nitrate-rich foods such as beetroots, leafy greens (like kale, rocket, chard, lettuce, spinach, and fennel) radishes, pomegranate, and parsley are making a comeback as their superfood prebiotic effects are being unearthed by scientists.

It appears that the good bacteria in our mouths simply adore nitrates and go into overdrive after we eat a healthy salad brimming with the stuff. These good bacteria will naturally protect our teeth and gums given half a chance and they do this by balancing the acidity of our saliva and elbowing out the big bad bacteria that cause all the destruction.

Any food that feeds our good body bacteria is known as a prebiotic. Foods that contain live bacteria (like live yogurts, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and olives) are known as probiotics.

Eating prebiotic-rich salads has an effect long after the food has been swallowed. The nitrates are absorbed through your gum, into the bloodstream, and released back into the mouth via the saliva - coating the teeth and gums for hours in beneficial liquid.

So nitrate-rich foods build natural resilience against sugar by acting as a neutraliser. On top of that, recent studies have shown that the benefits are wider reaching than reducing gum disease, freshening bad breath and strengthening teeth.

The conversion of nitrate-rich foods into nitrite and nitric oxide is also whole body helpful, as these substances cause the blood vessels to expand (vasodilate) which reduces blood pressure, and at the same time, they emit antimicrobial properties.

So this is positive news for people wishing to reduce their chances of cardiovascular problems. If you have serious underlying medical conditions always consult your doctor before using pre- or probiotics.

And with prebiotics at the front of my mind - and being in Greece at the moment - tonight's appetiser has got to be a big fat Greek salad...