Enamel Erosive Properties of Fruits and Fruit Juices

Abstract

Five tropical and semi-tropical fruits — namely grapefruit, guava, Java plum, mango, and pineapple — and juices prepared from them have been fed to standard rats to determine their enamel erosive properties. The pH and titratable acidity were determined for each lot of sweetened fruit and fruit juice used. Quantities of juice equivalent to the daily fruit supplement had three to 10 times the enamel erosive properties of the fruits themselves. No adequate explanation for the different effect of fruit and fruit juice can be offered at the present time, but it appears not to be related to the titratable acidity of the two. Data given for 5 fruits of widely different species and preliminary experiments with two other fruits appear to justify the postulate that acid fruits generally have a slight enamel erosive effect, in contrast to the marked effect of the juices made from them.