Which will win? The good dental effects of raisins or the bad?
"Raisins may help fight cavities" is the headline on a June 8, 2005 Reuters report on MSNBC which includes this key passage:
"Raisins are perceived as sweet and sticky and any food that contains sugar and is sticky is assumed to cause cavities," Christine Wu of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry said in a statement. "But our study suggests the contrary. Phytochemicals in raisins may benefit oral health by fighting bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease," said Wu, whose work was funded by the California Raisin Marketing Board.
One way to tell, perhaps, would be to have lots of people eat lots and lots of raisins and never brush their teeth. What would happen? Would people end up with toothy grins, or toothless?