Most Replayed Moment: Don’t Brush Your Teeth After Sugar! The Best Oral Care Routine

Steven Bartlett (0:03)

I was reading about a study in mice that linked that oral bacteria to tumor growth. Are you familiar with that study? Yes.

Victoria Sampson (0:11)

And it's that specific oral bacteria, so the fusovacterium nucleatum, which has been shown to accelerate tumor growth within mice, but also for colorectal cancer and breast cancer as well.

Steven Bartlett (0:24)

And what's your belief there? I know this research is fairly new, but do you think there is a causal relationship, a significant causal relationship between the health of our oral microbiome and our probability of developing some form of cancer?

Victoria Sampson (0:36)

I wouldn't yet say causal. I think that for most cancers, it is multifactorial and there are a lot of things that can impact whether or not you get the cancer and how aggressive the cancer is. I do think that oral health and some specific oral bacteria are risk factors and can definitely increase the aggression of those cancers or even the initiation of them. There's also been research and I think I'm waiting for the research to be published on what they're doing is they've created a antibiotic which only kills that oral bacteria that I was talking about, so Fusobacterium nucleotum. And they are going to be issuing that antibiotic to those patients who have the colorectal cancer which has the oral bacteria to see whether or not it slows down their progression or improves their prognosis. So if I see those results and it shows it, then there's for sure a strong causative link between the two. But for now, I would say that it's multifactorial and it's definitely a risk factor.

Steven Bartlett (1:42)

That oral bacteria that you're describing, you called it Fusobacterium? Yeah. What is it that causes that? Is it something that I'm eating? Is it a lifestyle choice I'm making?

Victoria Sampson (1:52)

Multiple things, poor oral hygiene. Some of us genetically will have higher levels of it. It's what we eat, it's who we're kissing, it's what we're breathing in.

Steven Bartlett (2:01)

Does my girlfriend have it?

Victoria Sampson (2:04)

So we would have to see. But it's, and that's the thing, that's the beauty of being able to test these things now is that you can actually see. And also what's strange is that green tea, you know, something so simple, is extremely effective at killing Fusobacterium nucleatum. So it's just knowing those types of things, being able to do the test, knowing the right treatment plans and recommendations based from that. We know green tea is good for us, and now we can really understand why.

Steven Bartlett (2:30)

Okay, that's interesting. You have actually tested Jack over there, right? And you said to me before we start recording that he's got a ton of that Fusobacterium.

Victoria Sampson (2:38)

Yes, he does.

Steven Bartlett (2:39)

Yeah. And it's really getting out of control.

Victoria Sampson (2:41)

It's really badly out of control, yeah. So I've given him a big vat of green tea as a gift.

Steven Bartlett (2:49)

Green tea?

Victoria Sampson (2:50)

Yes.

Steven Bartlett (2:51)

Green tea. This guy's going to edit that out. This is the problem.

Green tea.

Victoria Sampson (3:02)

Yeah.

Steven Bartlett (3:02)

That's good for my own microbiome.

Victoria Sampson (3:03)

Yeah, really good. Stains, but really good. It's anti-inflammatory. It helps with what we call oxidative stress. This is basically stress for the body and it's antibacterial. So it actually is very effective at killing Fusobacterium nucleatum.

Steven Bartlett (3:20)

What is your opinion of the impact that coffee has on my oral microbiome?

Victoria Sampson (3:25)

I'm slightly biased because I love coffee. But there is no negative impact of coffee on the oral microbiome directly. Coffee does dry your mouth out and so you have reduced saliva, and that can actually cause problems for the oral microbiome. So the saliva is super important in your mouth. It provides all of the food, the proteins, everything for the bacteria in your mouth. So it's kind of like this delivery service, your delivery is traveling around providing all of the food and bacteria, sorry, food to the bacteria, and that's what keeps the good bacteria alive and happy. So when you have a dry mouth, let's say you're drinking lots of coffee or you're very nervous or you are on antidepressants for example, which are a big one, then you just don't have as much saliva. So those bacteria don't have as much food and those bacteria die, and then you get bad bacteria growing in replacement.

Steven Bartlett (4:23)

What about tea? We're a nation of tea drinkers in the UK.

Victoria Sampson (4:26)

Similar. So it also does dry your mouth not as bad as coffee, but otherwise no problems other than staining.