Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!

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Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
bhaloo
03/01/01 at 13:28:27
slm

Who here likes sushi? I do. :)

Dec. 14, 2000 -- Wasabi, the green horseradish accompaniment to sushi, may do more than make one's eyes water. A new study shows it might actually prevent tooth decay.


A chemical compound found in wasabi was "very effective" in preventing growth of bacteria responsible for dental decay, says Hideki Masuda, PhD, director of the Material Research and Development Laboratories at Ogawa & Co., Ltd., in Japan. He presented the results of his study today at a conference of chemical societies in Honolulu.


Wasabi, or Wasabia japonica, is a perennial plant from the cruciferous family, says Masadu. The plant's thick stems are ground into a pale-green paste that is served with sushi and sashimi, or raw fish.


Why wasabi?


"The Japanese have known for many, many years that wasabi had antimicrobial properties," Masuda tells WebMD. "That's why we eat it with raw fish. [So] we thought, if it can kill many different types of bacteria, it might work on bacteria in tooth decay."


In his laboratory studies, Masuda exposed a type of bacteria found in tooth decay called Streptococcus mutans to high concentrations of wasabi and found that wasabi prevented the bacteria's activity with 100% effectiveness. The preventative effect comes from wasabi's ability to prevent a type of sugar from sticking to teeth. "It prevents plaque from forming," he tells WebMD.


"Western horseradish that you eat with prime rib would have a similar effect, because the chemical components are similar to wasabi," he tells WebMD. However, other cruciferous vegetables -- like broccoli and cabbage -- have other chemical components that may dilute their germ-fighting powers, he adds.


His studies also isolated the chemicals that seem to be responsible for this health benefit. They're called isothiocyanates, and they're responsible for wasabi's pungent smell and taste, says Masuda. Previous research has implicated isothiocyanates as preventive for cancer, blood clots, and asthma, Masuda tells WebMD.


"This certainly is very promising, preliminary information," says Daniel Meyer, DM, associate executive director and director for science at the American Dental Association. "But laboratory studies like this need to be supported by [human] studies. The mouth is a very complex system, and that's why to date there's been no real cure for [tooth decay]."


Some food groups -- cheeses, for instance -- do seem to restrict cavities from developing, Meyer tells WebMD.


"If people want to add wasabi and sushi to their diet, terrific, but certainly we would be more inclined to advocate good oral hygiene and preventive measures," Meyer says
NS
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
Asim
03/01/01 at 14:51:59
slm

Hmmm, I've never tried sushi. There is a japanese restaurant nearby I might as well go and check it out. So what exactly is sushi? Raw fish (don't like the sound of that!), rice?, what else?

Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
Nazia
03/01/01 at 15:20:08
Salam!

Its soo good! But I cheat and get the kind with cooked fish inside :) Yeah its basically, fish, rice & vegetables wrapped up in seaweed and then covered in rice.  You pick it up with chop sticks, dip it in soy sauce, add the ginger and green stuff and stick the whole thing in your mouth! yum yum!

For the hesitant conisseur, there is the ever popular  "cucumber roll", which has no sign of fish- raw or cooked -in sight :)
Wassalam,
Nazia
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
Al-Basha
03/01/01 at 16:23:36
Salamu Aliakom,

Sushi grosses me out totally hehe :)
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
bhaloo
03/01/01 at 19:58:53
slm

That wasabi sauce is powerful stuff.  But what about proper dental hygiene? ???  What products do you guys use?
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
PacificBreeze
03/01/01 at 20:02:54
umm...nooo....
our prof grossed us out with all the parasitic worms that exist in raw sushi..
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
bhaloo
03/01/01 at 20:16:00
slm

I don't get it, how did parasitic worms get in sushi (which is just fish) ?   You mean there is parasitic worms in all fish? :(
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
Asim
03/01/01 at 23:41:54
slm
[quote]Some food groups -- cheeses, for instance -- do seem to restrict cavities from developing, Meyer tells WebMD.[/quote]
Cheese is good!! I never doubted that but I am sure there are some researchers out there who will tell you that cheese is bad. Don't listen to them, they are misguided :)
[quote]That wasabi sauce is powerful stuff.  But what about proper dental hygiene? ???  What products do you guys use?[/quote]
Horseradish is an acqured taste and not something I would like to injest everyday. Dental hygiene? Brush and toothpaste!

Wasalaam.
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
haaris
03/06/01 at 06:53:50
Asalaamu aleikoum

Horseradish is fine when it comes in a roast beef sandwich.  Unfortunately I don't get too many roast beef dinners these days (not many halal butchers in my part of the world sell joints of beef: too English).  When I get a craving for a roast dinner I generally make do with roast chicken or lamb.

As for dental hygene, I know a few brothers who use only a miswaak, four or five times a day.

Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
PacificBreeze
03/11/01 at 04:17:53
[quote]slm

I don't get it, how did parasitic worms get in sushi (which is just fish) ?   You mean there is parasitic worms in all fish? :([/quote]

yeppers that bro bear...
Clonorchis is a liver fluke in humans n is common in Asia (china n japan etc)..n so def sushi n present in raw fish..these parasitic worms in the adult form live in our liver's bile duct.. parasitic worms...their life cycles go through like 3 hosts (human, snail and fish), n only thru these 3 specific hosts..like specific species not just any snail or fish but certain ones..subhan'allah huh?..the definite host is a human...their fertilized eggs r released thru small intestine n are shed via human feces..if the feces are present in the water (which is common in the east due to the rice fields etc n i guess certain unclean habits), then the eggs are eaten by a certain freshwater snail species..there, inside the snail's digestive sys, the egg hatches to a larval form n lives in the snails tissues..and are reproduced asexually in thousands etc..then the swimming form of the larval stage burrows out from the tissue's of the snail and swims until it finds a specific series of fish...n it burrows thru the fish's skin, sheds it's tail n forms a cyst in the fish's muscles..so when they're caught for sushi..and either eaten raw or not cooked properly..when digested by the humans, the parasite is released n goes into our bile ducts n restarts it's lifecycle as adult flukes..n it could stay there for like 15-30 yrs!!

we learned all about diff types of parasitic worms(flukes, tapeworms, intestinal parasitic worms like the ones u cough up..ewwww and swallow down again!! ick!!) etc..n dissected some...some r present in beef too so that's why u have to make sure it's totallllly well cooked...lol it's so funny b/c she started off with the fish..n everyone's like no sushi for me! nor fish lol n then when we got to the beef ones we're like no more beef..n we're like ur turning us into vegetarians! :P

n these worms have suckers n hooks too to stick to our tissues etc...

grossed out yet? :P
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
Arsalan
03/11/01 at 04:21:07
[slm]

Breeze, how do you know so much about this stuff?  Are you in college?  What's your major?

And I don't get another thing.  Sometimes you seem to know everything about the Arab culture, and at other times you're translating Urdu words into English!!  Do you have one parent from Arabia and one from Indo/Pak background?  
Re: Eat Sushi and Get Rid of Cavities!!!
PacificBreeze
03/11/01 at 11:44:09
[quote]

Breeze, how do you know so much about this stuff?  Are you in college?  What's your major?

And I don't get another thing.  Sometimes you seem to know everything about the Arab culture, and at other times you're translating Urdu words into English!!  Do you have one parent from Arabia and one from Indo/Pak background?  [/quote]

wa alaikum assalaam,
yes, i'm in college...major's molec bio with emphasis in genetics..n so i learned all this present stuff from zoology..a fascinating class i'm taking this qtr..tons of fun (dissections galore!) n loads of stuff to study! i definitely recommend this class to everyone..including nonbio majors! you'll like it :)

lol yup, we confuse EVERYONE!!! sometimes ppl think we're like half arab or half pak or something...we've just been exposed to alot of diff cultures etc n we're really open..parents have brought us up to be truly global while emphasizing islam etc n so to cut it short, even arabs get mixed up and some ppl insist we're not pakish but both rents are ethnically pak..(although maternal side's been US based since my mom was a toddler- so that explains the washed out pakness)..we're cali native..but..i guess arabized..? :P

what's your bkgd?


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