How many calories are in toothpaste

How many calories are in toothpaste? Well, toothpaste is a product that we use every single day, however, there are a lot of things about toothpaste that we don’t know.

You must have heard about the ingredients present in your toothpaste, for example, sodium, bubbles that give you a crackling effect, etc.

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All you need to know about ayurvedic toothpaste

Some kinds of toothpaste also contain ayurvedic ingredients like pudina commonly known as mint, turmeric, neem, dalchini popularly known as cinnamon, babul, etc to market their product in the market.

Now, why do they use such ayurvedic ingredients in toothpaste that hardly stays in our mouths?

Well, these natural ayurvedic ingredients have been used by our ancestors for the longest time to clean their teeth and keep them free from any germs. If you ask your grandparents about how they brushed their teeth back in that era when toothpaste didn’t exist they will tell you about these ingredients in detail.

These ingredients are not just super effective in fighting bacteria and solving decay problems but also a great marketing tactic for targeting Indian audiences.

Usually, these things are highlighted in advertisements that enlighten us about what is present in our toothpaste. Looking at these advertisements we are attracted to buying that particular product.

But did you know that toothpaste also has calories?

Well, it might sound weird to some people listening that there are calories in toothpaste but the reality is yes it has.

Although it’s there in your teeth for hardly a minute or two, most toothpaste contains calories.

Talking about an approximate figure a normal typical toothpaste you purchase from the local market can have up to 1 calorie per 100 grams.

One calorie might sound like a joke to you which is nothing but a negligible amount considering it from a dietary perspective especially because you don’t swallow your toothpaste.

The fun fact here is that even if you eat a whole tube of toothpaste it won’t add many calories.

However, you are not supposed to eat toothpaste and this was just an example.

Now that we know that toothpaste has a certain amount of calories the next question that might excite you is which is the specific ingredient in the toothpaste that actually contains calories?

We will discuss these ingredients and the number of calories in detail in the article further so don’t forget to read it till the end.

Which ingredient in the toothpaste contains calories?

Although it’s interesting fact to read about calories in toothpaste and wonder why are calories even present in toothpaste when we use it externally on our teeth for a few minutes.

You might also wonder, anyway if it contains calories then does it contain fat, sugar, carbs, etc too?

Relax, we’ve got you covered!

We know that you have a ton of other questions in your mind and we are here to answer them all.

In order to have a clear idea about all these aspects of toothpaste let’s take an example of a famous toothpaste brand and see its ingredient list breakdown.

Let’s take the example of Colgate which is a popular toothpaste brand and we bet you must have used it at least once!

Following is the ingredient list of the Colgate toothpaste

Glycerine
Sodium monofluorophosphate
Water
Blue 1
yellow 10
carrageenan
cellulose gum
sodium saccharin
flavor
sodium hydroxide
PEG 12
sodium bicarbonate
sodium Lauryl sulphate

Emulsifiers such as cellulose gum carrageenan present in toothpaste are nothing but food additives that are mainly manufactured from seaweed and contain food energy.

However, the quantity of the items has really tiny concentrations because of which they hardly make any calorie contribution.

Now let’s throw some light on carbohydrates present in a toothpaste

Does toothpaste have carbohydrates too?

While using toothpaste obviously most of us won’t look at the ingredient list or try to figure out the calorie portions etc present in it as we hardly brush our teeth once or twice a day.

The fact that we don’t swallow it and simply use it for a minute or two in our teeth we don’t really think much about it either.

If you are a chemistry student you might know which ingredient is adding carbohydrates although none of these ingredients would look like calorie-containing compounds to an untrained eye.

So let’s jump on to the main aspect which ingredient is responsible to add carbohydrates to toothpaste?

Let’s break your curiosity right here, the glycerine present in toothpaste is the main source of carbohydrates that has a similar calorie count to the common sugar used in your household.

This glycerine or glycerol belongs to the sugar alcohol or polyol chemical group that makes your toothpaste give a sweet taste while brushing your teeth.

Obviously, if you eat excessive sugar it might result in tooth decay but that is certainly not the case with your toothpaste because otherwise, the purpose of brushing your teeth won’t make sense if your toothpaste results in tooth decay right?

This is why unlike sugar this glycerine will not result in the feeding of mouth bacteria that cause tooth decay.

However, glycerol is an ingredient that is not present in every toothpaste.

Since glycerol is the main source of calories in your toothpaste, if you don’t find these ingredients in your toothpaste it doesn’t mean that it is zero in calories.

Your toothpaste is most likely to have other substitutes of glycerol like sorbitol, and xylitol which is also sugar alcohols and contain a calorie count similar to that of your household sugar.

Conclusion

Weren’t these facts about toothpaste interesting? We bet you didn’t know about these calories in toothpaste before. However, now that you know about it, brushing your teeth every day would be fun.

Also from the next time onwards whenever you buy toothpaste don’t forget to have a look at the back of the tube to see the ingredient list.