Eating wasabi with your sushi could do more than add spark to your lunch. The pungent, horseradish-like condiment—already known to contain infection-fighting chemicals—might also fight cavities.
New research hints that certain chemicals in wasabi can inhibit tooth decay, says Hideki Masuda of the Material Research and Development Laboratories at Ogawa & Co. in Chiba, Japan. In his test-tube experiments, Masuda said, these chemicals block an enzyme that the tooth-attacking bacterium, Streptococcus mutans, uses to make plaque.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.