The acidogenic potential of herbal baby drinks

The acidogenic potential of a range of commonly available herbal baby drinks was assessed on the basis of their ability to depress plaque pH in vivo in 10 adult volunteers using the plaque harvesting technique. In addition the pH and inherent acidity of each drink was also analysed in vitro. Solutions of 10% sucrose was used as a positive control and full fat milk served as a negative control as it has traditionally been recommended as a safe drink. Three of the six test drinks had a low pH though most had a low titratable acidity. All drinks, except herbal tea, on rising led to a significant drop in the plaque pH to near critical pH value of 5.5. Most drinks were also more acidogenic than milk and some behaved essentially similar to a 10% sucrose solution. The area under the curve below the resting pH was highest for apple and raspberry herbal drink (20.51 +/- 3.66) and was the least for herbal tea (0.00) compared with the 10% sucrose control (22.01 +/- 2.87) and milk (0.07 +/- 0.14). It was concluded that most herbal drinks tested, especially those with added fruit, can lead to a significant acid production in the plaque and therefore have a potential to cause demineralisation of the enamel.