Hi, this is Monica Reinagal here with another episode of the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous. I've gotten several questions lately about the impact of diet on your teeth,

specifically on the reversal of cavities.

For example, this email from Emily, who wrote,

I've heard claims that you can re-mineralize your teeth

and even heal cavities through certain diet and lifestyle choices. These claims usually involve

cutting out grains and other foods high in phytic acid. Most of the arguments I've

encountered so far have been anecdotal. Is there any scientific documentation of this process?

Emily, that's a great question and when I set out to research this topic I was pretty skeptical.

So I was a little bit surprised and actually pretty

excited to learn that re-mineralization of tooth enamel and even the reversal of

small cavities is possible.

But you don't need to cut out grains, nuts, and beans in order to re-mineralize your teeth.

That idea dates back to some research done in the early 20th century long before the era of

modern dentistry. That was before we knew exactly how cavities or even teeth

were formed and back, one hypothesis was that cavities were caused by mineral deficiencies,

and that grains might be responsible for those deficiencies,

perhaps by blocking the absorption of certain nutrients.

We now know pretty conclusively that this is not the case, at least not in industrialized countries.

Those early studies were conducted in Britain, a nation not exactly renowned for its dental

superiority, and this was long before fluoride treatment, and kids' teeth were basically rotting

in their heads. To test the theory that grains might be to blame,

a dentist named May Melambi divided a bunch of school kids into groups and she put one group on a

...