Mother Runs Acidity Tests On Fizzy Drinks
Liz Hurley, mother of Finn, aged 12, decided to turn detective and test the acidity of a range of popular drinks after her son was diagnosed with weak tooth enamel.
Finn was told that he was suffering from acid erosion, despite the fact that he hardly ever drinks fizzy drinks and sugary cordials. Both Liz and Finn’s dentist, Bridget Simpson, from Manor House Dental Practice, were puzzled by the acid wear.
When Finn visited the practice, Bridget used a strip of litmus paper to test the acidity of a drink of juice and it came out at 3.2; Mrs Hurley was then inspired by the results and decided to carry out her own tests on a range of different drinks when she got home.
Liz Hurley said that she was sure that the boys thought that they were in luck when she walked through the door carrying myriad bottles of drinks, but she was purely interested in the acidity readings.
After conducting her experiment on around 20 different products, Mrs Hurley said that the results were pretty shocking; most of them were acidic, but the readings for sports and isotonic drinks were particularly alarming. Finn plays rugby and regularly comes to the side to have a sip of his sports drink, before placing his gum shield back in his mouth. Mrs Hurley said that basically he had been bathing his teeth in acid while he was playing rugby all this time and this had probably contributed to the enamel wear.
Mrs Hurley said that she thought that she was giving her son a healthy alternative to fizzy drinks and called for more research to be carried out into the effects of drinking sports and energy drinks.
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