Abstract
This study aims to estimate the free sugars intake, identify the primary food sources of free sugars, and explore the relationship between free sugars intake and dental caries among Chinese adolescents. This cross-sectional study included 1517 middle-school students aged 12–14 years in Changsha city, China. Adolescents completed a 12-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and oral health assessment. The students’ dental caries experience was available as DMFT score (number of decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth). Statistical analyses included the Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression model. The average intake of free sugars was 53.1 g/d in adolescents, and 43.2% of the students consumed more than 50 g of free sugars daily. The primary contributor to free sugars was sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Age, boarders, and high family income were risk factors for excessive free sugars intake (p < 0.05), and increased free sugars intake was a risk factor for dental caries (odds ratio, OR = 1.446, 95% confidence interval: 1.138–1.839). Both the free sugars intake and dental caries prevalence in Chinese adolescents were high. Targeted interventions are urgently needed to address the excessive consumption of free sugars and improve Chinese adolescents’ oral health.
Highlights
Dental caries is one of the most prevalent oral conditions worldwide, which affects about 35.3% of the global population at all ages [1]
Our study indicates that 12–14-year-old Chinese adolescents have a high consumption of free sugars, which are associated with the prevalence of dental caries
Our study presented that the prevalence of dental caries in adolescents was at a high level of 56.9%, which was higher than the 34.5% from the 4th National Oral Health Epidemiological Survey [5] and higher than that of students in Jiangxi province and Zhejiang province (25.8% and 44.0%, respectively) [51,52]
Summary
Dental caries is one of the most prevalent oral conditions worldwide, which affects about 35.3% of the global population at all ages [1]. In 2017, dental caries affected 621 million children worldwide [3], with a 20.6% rise during a decade [4]; as for China, the prevalence of permanent teeth caries among 12-year-olds increased by 7.8% from 2007 to 2017 [5]. This increase, at home and abroad, alarmed us to pay more attention to dental caries prevention. Dental caries is mostly preventable through cost-effective and straightforward population-wide and individual interventions [2]
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