Tuesday Sept. 2, 2014 (foodconsumer.org)  - A study led by S. Daiya and colleagues from Post Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences in Rohtak, India  suggests taking micronutrient supplements along with conventional periodontal treatment may help fight chronic periodontitis in postmenopausal women.

The study showed postmenopausal chronic periodontitis patients who received both periodontal treatment and a micronutrient supplement had a better condition than those who received the same periodontal treatment only.

Periodontal treatment significantly improved salivary and serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, which indicates a better systemic enzymatic antioxidant status.   But the combinational treatment resulted in even a greater improvement of systemic enzymatic antioxidant status and greater reduction in gingival inflammation and bleeding on probing sites.

The study suggests adjuvant micronutrient supplementation can help reduce periodontal inflammation and improve the status of systemic enzymatic antioxidants in postmenopausal women who suffer chronic periodontitis.

The micronutrient supplement used for the study was in "the form of soft gelatin capsules (Antoxid, Dr. Redy's Laboratories Ltd, hyderbad, India) containing 0 mg of beta carotene, 27.5 m gof zinc sulphate monohydrate, 70 mcg of selenium dioxide (as selenious acid), 2 mg of manganese (as manganese sulphate monohydrate and 1 mg of copper (as copper sulphate pentahydrate),” which was taken once a day for three months. (David Liu, PHD)

Daiya S, Sharma RK, Tewari S, Narula SC, Kumar Sehgal P., Micronutrients and superoxide dismutase in postmenopausal women with chronic periodontitis: a pilot interventional study.  J Periodontal Implant Sci. 2014 Aug;44(4):207-13.