Lessened Incidence of Caries when Casein Replaces Milk in the Coarse Corn Meal Diet

Abstract

Hoppert, Webber and Canniff1 reported a diet which produced dental caries in rats. This diet consisted of coarsely ground yellow corn meal 60%, whole milk powder 30%, linseed meal 6%, alfalfa meal and NaCl 1%. Although these investigators considered this diet “adequate” in every particular, they found that from 90 to 100% of their rats developed dental caries in 16 weeks (112 days).Dental pathologists do not regard this caries as merely “fracture caries,” and no satisfactory explanation of its cause has been reported. This lack of explanation constitutes a challenge to every theory regarding the cause of dental caries today.In our studies we have found that 60% of 200 carefully controlled rats developed dental caries in 100 days when fed the Hoppert, Webber and Canniff diet. In an attempt to gain further information regarding the cause of the caries produced by this diet, the following experiment was performed.Fifty-six rats, 30 days old, from our own inbred stock, were fed the above diet modified by subs...