TABLE 2.

Summary of cohort studies relating to amount of sugars and dental caries¹

Study, year	Country	Age, y	Dentition	Findings
Rugg-Gunn et al. (20),2 1984	United Kingdom	12–14	Permanent	Highest consumers of added sugars (intake of sugars >10 E%) developed 0.9 more decayed tooth surfaces per year than the lowest consumers of added sugars (≤10 E%).
Stecksen-Blicks and Gustafsson (21),2 1986	Sweden	13	Permanent	Intake of sugars in group with low dental caries was ∼9.8 E% compared with 14.5 E% in the high caries group.
Burt et al. (22), 1988	United States	10–15		Correlation found between percentage of energy from sugars and development of dental caries over a 3-y period. Each 5 g sugars was associated with a 1% increase in probability of developing caries. All had intakes >10 E%.
Batellino et al. (23), 1997	Argentina	4	Primary	Correlation between amount of sugars and number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth was found. A relation between lower socioeconomic class and high caries was found. All had intake of free sugars >10 E%.
Rodrigues et al. (24), 19992	Brazil	3	Primary	Children with intake of added sugars at 16 E% were almost 3 times as likely to develop high dental caries as when intake of added sugars was ≤10 E%.
MacKeown et al. (25), 2000	South Africa	1–5	Primary	Change in caries incidence and prevalence between 1 and 5 y was not associated with intake of added sugars.
Karjalainen et al. (26),2	Finland	3	Primary	Intake of added sugars in children who developed caries over a period of 1 y was >10 E%, whereas it was ≤10 E% in children who remained free of cavities.
Ruottinen et al. (27), 20042	Finland	10	Permanent	Finnish children with intake of sugars ≤10 E% had 0.5 decayed, missing, or filled teeth compared with 1.4 in children with intake of sugars >10 E%.

¹E%, percentage of energy. Adapted from reference 3 with permission.

²Studies that enabled comparison of dental caries development in groups of children who consumed sugars at >10 E% and ≤10 E%.