What is the connection between bamboo and tooth decay? On the surface, there seems to be no connection, but if you delve deeper, you will find that bamboo is the main culprit behind tooth decay.
Why is bamboo considered a major cause of tooth decay? A look at botanists' analyses of bamboo's survival, reproduction, and composition makes this clear.
Bamboo is a herbaceous plant, but it uniquely possesses woody stems. While most herbaceous plants flower and bear fruit annually, bamboo differs in this respect; many species only flower after several years before dying. Bamboo reproduces by sprouting new shoots from its underground stems and growing year by year. Because bamboo has a longer growth cycle than most herbaceous plants, it provides a food source for pandas. The plant components, taking the *Phyllostachys edulis* as an example:
Among these components, sugars are the most prominent, accounting for 26.15%. We know that polysaccharide foods are prone to causing tooth decay.
In our study of panda tooth morphology, we noticed that dental caries in pandas mostly occurs on molars, with a few specimens showing caries on the fourth premolar. The caries typically manifests as cavities in the enamel layer on the occlusal surface, medically termed caries cavities. Less severe cases result in smaller cavities, while more severe cases result in larger cavities. In the cases of Panda Bartholin's caries, we sometimes observed exceptionally large cavities that penetrated the dentin, classifying them as "severely affected."
According to caries statistics, none were found in *Panda simianum*, a small percentage (approximately 2-3%) in *Panda minimus*, and a high percentage in *Panda barbae*. According to Wang Jiangke's research, "Observation of Dental Caries in Fossil Giant Pandas of Guangxi, 1961," 18 out of 100 specimens of the upper and lower second molars of *Panda barbae* showed caries, accounting for 18%. Furthermore, the caries in *Panda barbae* worsened with age. It now appears that pandas' bamboo consumption not only harms natural resources but also threatens their own health.
In our struggle against hot and cold climates, ancient humans consistently maintained an omnivorous diet. From a nutritional perspective, an omnivorous diet is highly nutritious, low in sugar, and low in fat. Therefore, ancient people rarely suffered from obesity, high blood pressure, or heart disease. This conclusion was drawn by anthropologists from studies of ancient human feces.
Whether compared horizontally or vertically, an omnivorous diet is still better.
