The surprising thing that can whiten your teeth
For many of us, a perfect cuppa isn’t complete without a dash of milk.
If you fall in that category, you may be pretty pleased to hear a study has found that adding milk to your tea doesn’t just impact the flavour – it can actually stop your teeth from becoming stained.
According to researchers, milk is even more effective than whitening toothpaste at keeping stains at bay.
“Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world, and the way it's processed affects how teeth are stained,” said Dr Ava Chow from the University of Alberta's School of Dentistry.
“The more the tea is processed or oxidised, the higher its staining properties are… but we've found that the addition of milk to tea reduces the tea's ability to stain teeth,” she said.
Without getting too science-y, here’s why:
Tea contains tannins – water-soluble compounds that cause the bitter flavour – which are dark in colour and can stain teeth.
But Dr Chow found that casein, the main protein in milk, binds to the tannins in tea and prevents staining.
Pretty cool, huh?!
As part of the study (which was published in the International Journal of Dental Hygiene), Dr Chow used human teeth that had been extracted.
She analysed and recorded the colour of each one, before putting them through a rigorous 'staining process'.
This involved putting the teeth into either a solution of tea, or a solution of tea with milk for 24 hours at 37°C.
After 24 hours, she recorded the colour of the teeth again.
“The magnitude of the colour change observed in our experiments is comparable to the colour change seen by vital bleaching products and more effective than whitening toothpastes,” she said.
Amazing.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve just vowed to continue to add milk to my tea till the end of my days.
Do you add milk to your tea? Are you concerned about your teeth getting stained?
67 Member Comments
That sounds promising. However, I hope it applies to soy milk, not just dairy, as that is the only milk I will drink.
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it says casein in cow's milk, soy milk has no casein.
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I guess the logic behind makes sense, milk is great for bones- teeth are bones?
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I don't drink tea but I drink a lot of milk so hopefully that's helping my teeth.
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I'm in trouble then, I mostly only drink herbal teas, so hope that's not as bad. Great article.
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I've swapped my cows milk to soy milk for health reasons. Hoping soy is as effective with protecting teeth!?
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I can only drink tea with milk so good to hear that's a good thing for my teeth!
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I love black tea I don't like to add milk since I read an article that says that adding milk negates the health benefits you get from the tea.
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I prefer my tea without milk. I don't think I could get used to drinking it with milk. Coffee I have milk.
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I'm not a tea drinker at all (only herbal tea) but am concerned about teeth staining from drinking coffee.
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Good advice! Is it the same for coffee drinkers.
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I can only tolerate "normal" tea with milk (obviously I don't put milk in peppermint tea etc!). It is nice to be vindicated occasionally, if only in a small way :-)
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Don't feel so bad about my milky tea addiction now!
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Gives us a reason to have more milk. I don't have milk with my tea, but I am always looking to whiten my teeth :D
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I love milk with my tea! Cannot drink it black!
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I love the Colbert Gif hahaha! My mum will be so pleased to know this. I on the other hand am a black tea drinker... WhiteGlo isn't helping though :(
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I only drink white tea so this is good to know.
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Yeah, for once it is promoting white tea, not black tea
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I tend to drink green tea more and I don't add milk to that. I was adding milk to my other tea, but I read it affects the health benefits. Bit of a toss up - do I want tea goodness or do I want white teeth?
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I drink a wide variety of teas, from herbal, green to white tea, depends on my mood lol
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Very interesting. Im off to drink some milk now.
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This is really interesting. As i drink Tea with Milk. And I drink herbal teas with out as it curdles with milk. So I dont feel too bad about drinking my Tea with Milk and I have also heard that if little kids loose a tooth to put it into Milk to save it ready for implanting back into their gums.
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Good article............thankfully I always add milk to my tea.
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