Introduction of sugarcane in Al‐Andalus (Medieval Spain) and its impact on children's dental health

Abstract

The introduction of sugarcane in Europe by the Arabs in the 10th century AD brought about a drastic change in gastronomy and oral health. In Southern Spain (Al-Andalus), sugarcane was mainly consumed by the elite, although its consumption became relatively widespread during the Nasrid Kingdom. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of the introduction of sugar on human diet and oral health by comparing patterns of caries in deciduous teeth between nonadult skeletal samples from two Nasrid populations (La Torrecilla and Talará) and a comparative set representing various Iberian populations without access to sugarcane (from Bronze to Medieval Ages). We analyzed 770 teeth from 115 nonadults divided into three groups: infants under 2 years of age, nonadults presenting only deciduous teeth, and nonadults presenting mixed deciduous and permanent dentition. The frequency of caries is high in the Nasrid individuals and very low in the comparative sample. This finding is in agreement with contemporaneous written sources on the utilization of sugarcane in the diet and as a pacifier for infants during weaning. Differences in the frequency of caries between the Nasrid samples (higher in Talará) are likely related to the socioeconomic differences between these populations.

North and South in Medieval Iberia: A historical and environmental estimate through isotopic analyses

“…However, its consumption increased in the 14 th -15 th century during Nasrid times, and the only site of sugarcane cultivation during the late Middle Ages was on the Mediterranean coast of Granada province [ 95 ]. Indeed, the 14 th century Granada writer Ibn al-Jatib recommended the use of sugarcane and crystalized sugar to calm children during weaning (in the second year of life) [ 93 ], and the individuals in this study may therefore have consumed sugar during their childhood [ 96 ], although it is not possible in our study to further precise the age of weaning process.…”

Archaeological Research in the Canary Islands: Island Archaeology off Africa’s Atlantic Coast

“…Cultivation of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) was introduced to southern Spain in the 10th century (Jiménez-Brobeil et al 2022) and by the 1300s plantations (often powered by enslaved labor) had been established in several areas of the Mediterranean (Curtin 1998). Along with the Portuguese islands of Madeira and, a little later, the Cape Verde group, the Canary Islands were one of the first places to which sugar was introduced in the Atlantic, a prequel to Iberian practice later in the Americas.…”