Comparative evaluation of effect of type of diet on periodontal health - A cross sectional study

Periodontal inflammation is multifactorial in origin and isconsidered to be one of the most important global oral health burdens. Thebacterial biofilm is the primary etiologic agent for periodontal disease. Thebiofilm that accumulates on tooth surfaces can penetrate deep in to theconnective tissue and initiates host responses. The immune response tomicrobial insult depend on various factors such as the patient’s immunity,microbial colonization and presence of systemic diseases. The diet plays asignificant role in immune response both directly and indirectly which canaffect the periodontium. The micro and macro nutrients affect the inflammatoryprocess and anti-oxidant and oxidant balance. Vegetarians consume a higheramount of antioxidants in form of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants likevitamin C has a central role in defending from free radicals, improvechemotaxis and phagocytosis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and improvelymphocyte responsiveness.

Different types of diethave been defined and the primary diet types include omnivorous, carnivorous,pollotarian, pescetarian, vegetarian, and vegan. The definitions of thedifferent eaters are as follows: Omnivores is a person who eats all types offood; A carnivore is a person who predominantly eats red meat, which includes:pork, beef, veal and lamb; A pollotarian is a person who primarily eats poultryinstead of red meat; A pescetarian is a person who primarily eats fish andseafood, as well as vegetables and other non-animal meat foods; A vegetarian isa person who does not eat any type of meat and eats a plant-based diet instead;A vegan is a person who does not eat any animal products or by-products andstrictly adheres to a plant-based diet.

Very few studies hadconducted in comparing  periodontal healthand association with diet. Americans who ate a diet rich in meat and friedfoods had increased risk for periodontitis in a secondary analysis of NHANESIII data, which may have been attributed to the greater lipid deposition andhigher levels of systemic circulatory inflammatory molecules. Low meat andfat diets may be associated with decreased production of reactive oxygenspecies, reduced oxidative damage of mitochondrial DNA, lower cytokineproduction ,and improved metabolic parameters such as blood glucose and insulinsensitivity, which maybe protective against periodontitis. In many casesvegetarian diets are helpful in the prevention and treatment of certaindiseases like hypertension, diabetes, dementia, cardiovascular diseases andeven gall stone and rheumatoid arthritis.

In 2021, Pew Research Center released the results of a surveythroughout India which included questions on dietary preferences. According tothis study, around 39% of the overall Indian population identifies as vegetarian.Since the majority of the population are consumers of diet that cannot bedescribed as vegetarian, it is imperative that the effect of the differenttypes of diet as well as dietary components on periodontium is identified andappropriate diet counselling may be performed.