§ Mr. MarlandTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the chief medical officer's annual dental health report published last month.
§ Mr. FreemanIn the dental section of his annual report the chief medical officer noted that in common with many other industrialised countries, a substantial improvement in dental health had taken place in the United Kingdom in recent years. This had been manifested particularly in children where a marked decline in dental caries had occurred since the early 1970s. The report went on to detail the changes that had occurred and to consider demographic variations in current levels of disease. Reasons for the changes were discussed and some international comparisons on caries levels were presented. In discussing future prospects for further improvements in the dental health of the population, the report stressed the importance, among other things, of the dissemination of more information to guide the public on dental care, including the labelling of food products to show their sugar content.
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§ Mr. MarlandTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has as to what national or international medical studies on dental caries have suggested concerning(a) the frequency of sugar consumption and (b) the amount, in contributing to tooth decay; and which studies have recommended a reduction in sugar consumption.
§ Mr. FreemanScientific literature on the relationship between sugar and dental caries was extensively reviewed by an expert panel of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy in its report "Dietary Sugars and Human Disease" which was published in late 1989. The section devoted to sugars and dental caries contained no fewer than 61 references to world literature. We are not aware of any official report which has not recommended a reduction in sugar consumption.