A recent study confirmed that regularly consuming nuts may actually be bad for oral health.
The researchers involved in the study claims that nuts and acorns severely diminished the oral health of early humans. In their study, they collected evidence about hunter-gatherers who roamed Africa, 15,000 years ago, and concluded that nuts helped their survival but also led to tooth decay and bad breath. More than of the population experienced these effects.
In the past, researchers thought that poor dental hygiene and various oral conditions were a result of the rise of farming cultures and processed food about 10,000 years ago. However, more recently, a study which was published in the journal of the American Medical Association found decreased rates of nut allergies among children whose mothers regularly ate peanuts or tree nuts during pregnancy. These findings refute previous findings claiming that nut consumption during pregnancy could increase a child's chances of developing nut allergies.
Researchers involved in the study stressed that women with family history or personal history of food allergies should not increase nut consumption solely to protect their children. They also looked at numerous burial sites found at Grotte des Pigeons in Morocco from the Middle and Late Stone Ages, according to NAT Monitor. When they examined the teeth of the deceased humans, they found evidence of tooth decay rates similar to those of today, a time people consume mostly refined sugars and processed grains.
However, the researchers admitted that it is unclear whether or not a complete and total lack of understanding of proper dental hygiene during that time contributed to tooth decay and other oral health issues.
