Study Shows Weak Link Between Diet and Early Cavities in Low-Income Toddlers
A new study published in BMC Oral Health and highlighted on Oral Health Group examined whether snack and beverage patterns in very young children from low-income households are strongly associated with the development of early childhood caries (ECC). Surprisingly, the researchers found no significant relationship between diet patterns in children under two years old and the onset of cavities, underscoring that ECC is a multifactorial disease.
The study followed 127 Medicaid-eligible children from birth in two university-affiliated clinics in upstate New York. Dietary data were collected at 12, 18, and 24 months using structured questionnaires, categorizing snack and drink consumption according to cariogenic potential. The researchers then used latent class analysis to identify typical consumption patterns (e.g., medium sweet + medium non-sweet; low sweet + high non-sweet; high sweet + medium non-sweet), and used multinomial regression to test for associations with ECC diagnosis by age 2.
While they did detect distinct dietary patterns among participants, none of these patterns was significantly predictive of ECC by 24 months. In other words, children in the “high sweet + medium non-sweet” group were not statistically more likely to have caries compared to other groups in this cohort.
The authors emphasize that although sugary drinks and sweets remain undesirable for young children, this study suggests that other factors beyond diet — such as oral hygiene practices, fluoride exposure, saliva composition, microbial colonization, and socioenvironmental conditions — may play a more dominant role in whether ECC develops in early life. They call for future research across diverse populations, with repeated dietary measurements and consideration of multiple risk factors, to better understand how diet interacts with other determinants of oral health.
📖 Original Article Information
Title: Study finds no strong link between diet and cavities in young children from low-income families
Published: — Oral Health Group