20 December 2023

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Correlation between nutrition and gum health

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Although the studies currently available are heterogeneous and limited, the link between a very strict diet and beneficial effects on gum health has been demonstrated. Luigi Nibali, full professor and director, reminded the Ansa agency, citing research conducted by a team of Italian researchers from King's College in London, in collaboration with the universities of Los Angeles, Liverpool and Barcelona, published in Clinical Oral Investigations. of Periodontology at King's College London and member of the Italian Society of Periodontology and Implantology (SIdP).

“For some years, we have been investigating the effect that nutrition can have on periodontitis,” Nibali explains to Ansa. “We know that obesity is linked to a greater risk of periodontitis and this systematic review has allowed us to investigate the effect of very strict diets on gum health.”

To carry out the review, the researchers initially examined 4980 articles and then selected 6 of which 4 involved studies on animals and 2 on humans.

"This review - explains Giuseppe Mainas, PhD student at King's College and first author of the article - highlights that caloric restriction, compared to the normal diet, is associated with a reduction in local and systemic inflammation related to periodontitis, and furthermore, to an improvement in clinical parameters. This is probably linked to the reduction of oxidative stress and glycemia due to caloric restriction. Furthermore, it seems to have a beneficial effect on DNA repair. Of course, it alone is not enough to heal the gums, but must undoubtedly be associated with non-surgical periodontal therapy”.