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In Sweden, children can only eat sweets on Saturdays, a tradition that dates back to the late 1940s. A scientific study had revealed that too many sweets could spoil the teeth. Nearly 80 years later, the discovery of the conditions for its realization shock Swedish society.
Every Saturday, Swedish candy stores see long queues. This is the only day of the week when children can enjoy sweets. But most of the inhabitants are unaware of the origin of this tradition, well anchored in the country. It is based on cruel experimentation, long passed over in silence. If today, the link between sugar and cavities seems obvious, in Sweden in 1947, it still had to be demonstrated scientifically, at the cost of terrible suffering.
Up to 17 cavities for some test patients
An institution for the mentally handicapped was chosen to carry out a sordid experiment. According to the results discovered by a researcher, the patients were pushed to eat, in two years, large quantities of sugar.
“Carbohydrates, in the form of sticky candies on the teeth, have caused cavities in almost everyone. Of the 1,000 study participants, ten had a large number of cavities, up to 17, and 50 of them had up to ten cavities.”, explains Elin Bommenel, researcher at the University of Lund (Sweden). These results fundamentally changed dentistry, but the terrible pain endured by the 1,000 patients went unrecognized for a long time.
Among our sources:
Study by Elin Bommenel, researcher at Lund University, Sweden (in English)
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