Polyphenols such as tannins in cocoa, coffee, tea, and many fruit juices may reduce the cariogenic potential of foods. In vitro experiments have shown that these polyphenolic compounds may interfere with glucosyltransferase activity of mutans streptococci, which may reduce plaque formation. In rat experiments, tea polyphenols reduced caries.

in “Sugars and dental caries”, Riva Touger-Decker and Cor van Loveren,
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Health Related Professions, New Jersey Dental School, Newark (RT-D), and the Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam (CvL).

Coffee brews are very widely consumed in the world due to their pleasant flavor and taste as well as for their stimulating effect on mental and physical activity. Caffeine is the most studied coffee component, and most of the literature is concerned with caffeine’s pharmacological effects.However, coffee beverages are very complex mixtures of several hundred chemicals that either occur naturally or, else, are later induced in coffee by the roasting process, that is, in the form of nicotinc acid or melanoidins. The occurrence of such a great number of chemicals in coffee has recently induced many researchers to investigate other coffee bioactivities. Coffee, in particular roasted coffee, has been found to act as a potent antioxidant and to inhibit lipid peroxidation both in chemical and in biological systems in rat liver microsomal fractions. Roasted coffee was also shown to possess antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria including Streptococcus mutans, which is considered to be the major causative agent of dental caries in humans.

M. Daglia, R. Tarsi, A. Papetti, P. Grisoli, C. Dacarro, C. Pruzzo, and G. Gazzani

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Department of Experimental and Applied Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Pavia, via Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy, and Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ancona, via Ranieri Monte d’Ago, 60131 Ancona, Italy

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January 25, 2002
10.1021/jf010958t S0021-8561(01)00958-X