Children and adolescents
The study, led by the University of Southern Denmark, shows that the proportion of children and adolescents with no caries is higher among those with a higher-than-average intake of dairy products, as compared with those who consume less dairy: 72.7% versus 65.8% at age 9 and 41.1% versus 30.7% at age 15. They also found that dairy and milk consumption, as well as the intakes of dairy components such as dairy calcium, whey and casein, are generally inversely associated with childhood and adolescent caries.
3- and 6-year incidence
The researchers were also interested in the appearance of dental caries over a period of 3 and 6 years. They observed the favourable effect of dairy products: the incidence of caries after 3 years and after 6 years is inversely associated with the consumption of dairy products, even if this association is only statistically significant at 3 years and in unadjusted models of the 6-year incidence.
