Samband mellan kostrelaterad övervikt eller fetma och karies hos barn

Abstract

One of the leading causes of deaths in the world is a result of overweightness and obesity, which is why it is important for children to create well rounded dietary habits during their childhood years. The aim of this study was to evaluate if there is an association between overweightness/obesity and dental caries among children. The articles were searched in the medical database PubMed. An age restriction between 0-18 years was made due to that this study is focused on children. The result is based on 10 scientific studies. All studies in this literature review except two have concluded that overweight or obese children had a higher prevalence of dental caries compared to those who were normalweight or underweight. Several of the studies showed that the overweight children had higher consumption of fast food, sugary drinks and food containing fermentable carbohydrates. In the studies were the diets were fat-based, there was no correlation to caries. In one of the studies there was no correlation between overweightness (BMI >25) and caries but instead a correlation between underweightness (BMI<18) and caries. The study concludes that nutrition could have a possible common risk factor for overweightness and dental caries. Further research is however needed in this field, primarily through longitudinal studies in this area to establish the relationship.