Fast for a few days to combat bleeding gums

Got bleeding gums?  Cut back on the food you eat for a few days, and you’ll start to see a difference.

A mini fast—where you reduce your calorie intake—can start to reverse gum disease in within five days.  It’s every bit as important as brushing, flossing and maintaining oral hygiene, say researchers from King’s College London.

It’s been known for a while that fasting reduces levels of inflammation in the body, and the researchers have discovered that it can also help fight periodontitis, or gum disease.

The researchers recruited 28 patients from hospitals across Spain, half of whom followed a five-day calorie-restricted diet, while the others continued eating as usual.

Those in the fasting group consumed 1,100 calories a day for the first two days, and then 750 calories a day for the next three days. On the sixth day, calories intake increased before they returned to their normal diets on the seventh day.  The diet was repeated three times over the following six months.

Tests showed that they had lower levels of inflammation-related markers in their blood and gum tissue, and they also had lower levels of C-reactive protein, a widely used marker of inflammation throughout the body.  They also had fewer molecules specifically associated with inflammation in the gums.

A King’s team last year found that following the Mediterranean diet can also reduce gum disease.

Gum disease can start the inflammatory processes in the body that can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers.

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