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HEALTH WATCH
Watch
What You Eat
Modern food habits are
causing an alarming rise in cases of tooth decay among urban children
Your child's teeth are under attack-from
everyday snacks like potato chips and chocolates. Three out of four children
in Delhi and Mumbai have tooth decay, according to an ongoing survey of
more than 3,000 children aged 7-9 years, approved by the Dental Council
of India. Only two years ago, the number hovered only a little above zero.
The study confirms the World Health Organisation report that while caries
is on the decline in developed countries, its incidence is increasing
in developing countries. The rate at which tooth decay has shot up has
the dentists worried.
 The
main culprit, according to Dr Ashish Kakkar, consultant at Apollo Hospital
and an author of the study, is the rapid change in the modern Indian diet.
Chips, chocolates, icicles and cold drinks are high on the list of dental
villains. "Earlier, children used to have more raw food and vegetables
and the fibres helped in mechanical cleaning," he says. But refined
foods that are commonly consumed now bind to the teeth, providing the
optimal environment for bacteria to nourish themselves and gnaw their
way through the enamel. "One soft drink a day won't do much harm,
but regular attacks by carbohydrates are damaging," clarifies Dr
R.K. Bali, president of the Dental Council of India. The result: ugly
grey patches on the teeth and the excruciating pain that signals tooth
decay. The indifferent attitude of most parents to dental problems does
not help. "Even when they get caries, rarely are children taken to
a dentist for treatment," says Kakkar. "Dentists are only consulted
in an emergency."
Apart from a fibrous diet, there is a simple
solution to ensure healthy teeth-use toothpastes containing fluoride.
"Fluoride," explains Bali, "hardens the calcium that teeth
are made up of. This makes teeth more resistant to bacterial plaque."
Too much fluoride, however, can leave teeth brittle and discoloured as
it reacts with the enamel.
Bad dental habits are also to blame for the
dismal state of oral health of urban Indian children, according to Kakkar.
Most people brush their teeth before breakfast, while brushing after breakfast,
and rinsing one's mouth after every meal, would be far more effective,
he points out. All of this is ancient wisdom but never before has it been
so relevant as it is today.
—Supriya
Bezbaruah
IN SMALL DOSES
 Seeing
Light: Put off the lights if you want your child to have healthy
eyes. A survey of 479 children aged 2-16 years, reported in the prestigious
journal Nature, shows that more than half the children who slept in a
room with lights on had myopia, or near-sightedness. Even a third of those
who slept with only night lights developed myopia. In contrast only one
in 10 children who slept in darkness had the problem. Doctors are unsure
of the reason, but research on chickens provides a clue: their eyes required
daily periods of darkness to develop normally. Childhood is a crucial
time when the eyes develop rapidly. So let there be darkness at night.
 Paracetamol
Peril: A headache? Think twice before popping a pill. The Ahmedabad-based
Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC) warns that excessive use
of paracetamol can damage the liver, even lead to its failure. A study
of 300 cases of acute liver failure at the University of Texas, US, links
liver damage in a third of the cases to sustained use of the drug. CERC
insists that bottles carry a warning about safe doses of paracetamol.
 Fat
Chance: Overweight children have never had an easy time. Now
it gets worse. A recent study of 5,000 children in Britain shows that
obese children are more prone to asthma. The link is stronger in girls
than boys. The hormone leptin, which is produced by fat tissues in the
body and is found in higher levels in girls, may provide a clue to the
gender bias. If that wasn't bad enough, another study conducted in Canada
shows that obesity is bad for the mind too. Overweight and obese people
reported slower cognitive abilities. Reason enough to trim those extra
pounds.
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