§ Mr. Colin ShepherdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the dental experts who were involved in the COMA panel's report on sugars.
§ Mr. FreemanThe members of the committee on medical aspects of food policy's panel on dietary sugars are listed in the report. The dental member was Professor A. J. Rugg-Gunn of the departments of child dental health and oral biology at the dental school of the university of Newcastle upon Tyne.
A number of submissions on dental and other aspects of health were received and considered by the panel. These are also listed in the report, copies of which are available in the Library.
§ Mr. Colin ShepherdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the change in the occurrence of dental cavities in the teeth of five-year-old children over the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. FreemanSurveys of children's dental health are carried out at 10-yearly intervals by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys on behalf of the health departments. The last survey which was conducted in 1983 showed that the proportion of five-year-olds in England and Wales with dental decay experience fell from 72 per cent. in 1973 to 49 per cent. The average number of teeth estimated to have had some decay, allowing for the condition of missing deciduous teeth, was 4.0 in 1973 dropping to 1.8 in 1983.
§ Mr. Michael MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy when considering the findings of the COMA panel report on sugars relating to the reduction of dental caries to assess the findings of the 469W United States Food and Drugs Administration in 1986, the British Nutrition Foundation in 1987, and the European congress on diet, nutrition and dental caries held in 1988; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanThe panel on dietary sugars of the committee on medical aspects of food policy (COMA) took account of these, and other, reports in coming to its conclusions. The COMA report is, we believe, the definitive statement on present knowledge of the relationship between dietary sugars and health.
The COMA report on dietary sugars and human disease was published by HMSO on 12 December 1989. Copies are in the Library.
§ Mr. Michael MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any official medical report concerning the incidence of dental caries has distinguished between natural sugars and added sugars in terms of their effects on dental health.
§ Mr. FreemanThe report on dietary sugars and human disease produced by the committee on medical aspects of food policy included the relationship between sugar and dental caries. It distinguished between sugars naturally integrated into the cellular structure of a food (intrinsic) from those, whether natural or added, which are free in the food (extrinsic).
It argued that this distinction was more logical and comprehensive than distinctions such as that between "added" and "natural" sugars. It noted (para. 2.6) that
this difference in physical location influenced [the sugars] availability for bacterial metabolism in the mouth …and concluded thatif the prevalence of dental caries in the UK is to be reduced further it will be necessary to reduce the amount and frequency of consumption of non-milk extrinsic sugars(para. 6.13).We are not aware of any other official report which has made a distinction between "natural" and "added" sugars.