Foods That Stain Teeth: Turmeric, Red Wine, Chocolate And More

Yes, plenty of everyday foods stain teeth, not just coffee and tea. Bupa's dental team lists red wine, cola, dark fruit juices, tomato-based sauces, curry (which often contains turmeric), balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, berries and beetroot among the foods and drinks that can stain, and the American Dental Association names "highly pigmented foods (e.g., dark fruits)" among the causes of surface stain. So does turmeric stain teeth? Bupa says it can. Does red wine? Bupa calls it "one of the most common causes of tooth staining". This guide goes through the foods that stain teeth one by one, explains why they do it, sets out what Bupa suggests to reduce it, and covers what actually lifts food stain once it has built up.

Why some foods stain teeth and others do not

Bupa's page on teeth-staining foods is written by Caitlin Miller, Head of Dental Hygiene and Therapy at Bupa Dental Care, dated 17 September 2025, with its next review due in September 2028. It names three things that do the damage. Colour: "Chemical compounds called chromogens give certain foods and drinks their strong colour, and these compounds can stain your teeth." Tannin: "Foods and drinks containing a substance called tannin can also cause staining." And acid: "Acids can also wear down your teeth, increasing the chances of your teeth getting stained."

It also gives a simple rule of thumb: "In general, if something could stain your clothes or your tongue, it’s likely to stain your teeth."

The American Dental Association explains where that colour ends up. "Extrinsic stains commonly result from an accumulation of colored compounds on enamel", it says, and among the causes it lists "the consumption of highly pigmented foods (e.g., dark fruits) or beverages (e.g., red wine, coffee, tea, or cola drinks)". Extrinsic means the stain builds up on the tooth from the outside, rather than starting inside it. The ADA adds that extrinsic stain can be "exacerbated by lifestyle habits (e.g., smoking or chewing tobacco), poor oral hygiene, or frequent consumption of pigmented food or beverages." The word that matters there is frequent.

Hot drinks have a guide of their own. If your stain comes mainly from a mug, our page on coffee and tea stains covers green tea, matcha, milk and straws in detail, so this page sticks to food and the other drinks.

Foods and drinks that stain teeth, beyond coffee and tea

These are the items on Bupa's list other than tea and coffee, with what Bupa says about each. Bupa is clear that some of them are good for you: "Some of them contain vitamins and minerals which have lots of health benefits. So, you don’t need to cut them all out of your diet, especially if you don’t consume them regularly."

• Red wine. "Drinking red wine is one of the most common causes of tooth staining."
• Cola. "The dark colouring of cola can cause staining. It also contains acids that can wear away your enamel", which Bupa describes as the coating that protects your teeth.
• Dark fruit juices. Bupa names pomegranate, blueberry and red grape juice, which "can stain your teeth if you drink them a lot", and notes that fruit juices are acidic as well.
• Tomato-based sauces. Bupa says "the pigment causing their deep red colour makes them a key offender for staining."
• Curry. "Curries can have strong, deep colouring and often contain turmeric, which can cause staining."
• Balsamic vinegar. Its "deep pigmentation" is the reason Bupa gives.
• Soy sauce. Bupa says "the dark colouring of soy may linger on your teeth long after your meal is finished."
• Berries. Bupa calls them "another tooth-staining culprit", while pointing out they are a good way to get your five a day.
• Beetroot. "If you’ve ever handled beetroot, you’ll know just how much it can stain."

Read the list against Bupa's own rule of thumb and the pattern is plain: every item is strongly coloured, and pale foods are not on it.

Does turmeric stain teeth?

Yes, it can. Bupa's line on curry is the direct answer: curries "often contain turmeric, which can cause staining." Turmeric is also the clearest case of the clothes and tongue test. Turmeric powder leaves a strong yellow mark on a chopping board and on fingers, which is exactly what Bupa's rule of thumb is pointing at.

It is worth separating two questions that sit side by side in search. One is whether turmeric stains teeth, which is this page. The other is whether turmeric can whiten teeth, a home remedy that circulates online. Our guide to natural whitening remedies covers that one and sets out what the evidence does and does not show.

Does red wine stain teeth?

Yes. Bupa puts it bluntly, as quoted above, and the ADA lists red wine among the drinks behind extrinsic stain. The Oral Health Foundation, writing about how long whitening results last, says "Smoking and drinks like tea, coffee and red wine can cause staining to return more quickly." So red wine matters twice: it adds stain in the first place, and it is one of the things that brings stain back after whitening.

The colour is not the whole story. Bupa's general point is that acids can wear teeth down and make staining more likely, and it flags acid alongside colour for cola and for fruit juices.

Does chocolate or hot chocolate stain teeth?

We could not find a named, reviewed source that tests chocolate on teeth, so here is what can honestly be said. Chocolate is not on Bupa's list of ten, and neither the ADA nor the Oral Health Foundation names it. What Bupa does give is the principle: chromogens are the compounds that give foods "their strong colour", and anything that would stain your clothes or your tongue is likely to stain your teeth. Dark chocolate and a cup of hot chocolate are strongly coloured, and both would mark a shirt. That is the reasoning, and it is our reading of Bupa's rule rather than a measured result, so we are not going to rank chocolate against red wine or curry.

Bupa's suggestion about milk is made for tea and coffee, "Add milk to your tea and coffee, as it can reduce the staining effects", and it does not say whether the same applies to hot chocolate, so we will not stretch it that far.

Do you have to stop eating foods that stain?

No, and Bupa does not suggest it. Its advice is aimed at frequency: "if you’re worried about teeth staining and eat or drink some of the items below a lot, you might want to think about cutting down." It also says some people stain more easily than others, naming "thinning of enamel which happens with age, genetics, and even how much saliva we have", and then adds: "the biggest factor that increases your risk of stained teeth is poor oral hygiene."

Bupa lists practical steps to reduce staining. These six apply to food and cold drinks, quoted from its page:

1. "Rinse your mouth as soon as possible with water after eating or drinking something that may stain your teeth."
2. "Use a straw when drinking cold drinks like cola or juice that may stain your teeth."
3. "Chew sugar-free gum, which can help to stimulate more saliva and cleans your mouth."
4. "Eat plenty of crunchy fruit and vegetables, like apples, carrots and celery." Bupa says they boost saliva and scrub your teeth.
5. "Make sure you’re brushing your teeth twice a day, and as recommended by your dental professional."
6. "See your dentist or hygienist as frequently as they advise."

None of that asks you to give up curry night or a glass of red. It asks you to rinse, brush and keep up with your cleans.

What lifts food stain once it has built up

Food stain is extrinsic stain, and the ADA says "A wide range of extrinsic stains can be effectively reduced with mechanical interventions such as brushing with a whitening toothpaste or professional prophylaxis." Professional prophylaxis is a clean by your dentist or hygienist. On whitening, the ADA says plainly: "Whitening treatments can be effective on both extrinsic and intrinsic staining." Our hub on how to remove stains from teeth goes through each option and when a stain needs a dentist instead.

This is where our own strips come in. Pure Glow strips use PAP (phthalimidoperoxycaproic acid), which lifts the surface stain that curry, wine and berries leave behind, and also works on the coloured compounds inside the tooth, by a gentler route than peroxide takes.

That is how PAP whitening works, and it is why our PAP teeth whitening strips can take you up to 6 shades whiter in 14 days, depending on where you start, with zero sensitivity.

The formula is peroxide free, enamel safe and dentist approved, with xylitol in the mix and hydroxyapatite that supports the enamel surface, which is why we call them whitening strips with hydroxyapatite. If you want the detail on the peroxide side, our page on peroxide-free whitening strips explains the difference.

The routine is one strip a day for 14 days. Brush, dry your teeth with a towel, put the smaller strip on the bottom teeth first and then the upper, and leave them on for a minimum of 30 minutes. Do not eat while they are on, though a sip of water is fine. Our founder often wears his for 45 minutes to an hour. Afterwards, keep coffee, tea, red wine and strongly coloured food away for about an hour. If you want to know where brushing fits around the strips, we cover brushing before or after strips separately.

Expect to top up if your diet keeps adding colour

A whitening course does not stop the next curry from adding fresh stain. The Oral Health Foundation says smoking and drinks like tea, coffee and red wine can bring stain back more quickly. It does not mention food, but Bupa's point about frequent, strongly coloured food and drink suggests the same caution for the rest of its list. Whitening and a colourful diet are not either or. The diet keeps adding stain, so the result needs looking after.

After the 14-day course, 2 to 3 strips a week is how the strips are designed to hold a shade. If you know you will be topping up regularly, or whitening alongside a partner, the 56 strip bundle saver is two boxes, 28 days of treatment, and costs less than buying two single boxes.

Where my own staining came from

I am Daniel, and I started Pure Glow. My staining did not come from turmeric or berries. I was working a three-shift pattern, drinking a lot of coffee to get through it and smoking at the time, and my teeth showed it. A holiday to Ibiza was what pushed me to try whitening, and it went badly: peroxide strips gave me bad sensitivity, and the non-peroxide ones I tried would not stick, slid around and left patchy results.

Back home I bought every whitening strip I could find and catalogued every fault. It took ten months of testing and four rejected formulas to get to the one we use now. The cause of my stain was my own habits, and the honest lesson from that is the one on this page: know what is adding the colour, deal with it day to day, and use a whitening course that does not hurt to lift what has built up.

Frequently asked questions

What foods stain teeth the most?
Bupa's list of common teeth-staining foods and drinks is tea and coffee, red wine, cola, dark fruit juices, tomato-based sauces, curry, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, berries and beetroot. It calls red wine one of the most common causes of tooth staining. It does not rank the rest against each other, and neither do we.

Does curry stain teeth?
It can. Bupa says curries can have strong, deep colouring and often contain turmeric, which can cause staining.

Do blueberries stain teeth?
They can. Bupa lists berries as a tooth-staining food and blueberry juice among the dark juices that can stain if you drink them a lot. It also says berries are a good way to get your five a day, so the advice is about frequency, not cutting them out.

Does beetroot stain teeth?
It can. Bupa puts beetroot on its list and points out how much it stains anything you handle it with.

Does cola stain teeth?
It can. Bupa says the dark colouring of cola can cause staining and that its acids can wear away enamel, and the ADA names cola drinks among the drinks behind extrinsic stain. Bupa suggests a straw for cold drinks like cola.

Does hot chocolate stain teeth?
No named source we could find has tested it. By Bupa's rule of thumb, anything strongly coloured enough to stain your clothes or your tongue is likely to stain your teeth, and hot chocolate fits that description, but we have no measured answer to give.

Will rinsing with water after eating help?
Bupa recommends it: rinse your mouth as soon as possible with water after eating or drinking something that may stain your teeth.

Can whitening strips remove food stains?
Yes. The ADA says whitening treatments can be effective on both extrinsic and intrinsic staining, and food stain is extrinsic. PAP lifts surface stain and works on the coloured compounds inside the tooth. What whitening will not do is re-colour a filling, crown or veneer, though stain sitting on top of them can lift, or hold a result in place while you are still adding new stain, which is why top-ups exist.

What can I eat after using a whitening strip?
Our own instruction is to avoid coffee, tea, red wine and strongly coloured food for about an hour after you take the strip off. After that, eat as normal.

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Related reading:

• Keeping teeth white after whitening
• Why teeth look yellow
• Whitening a smoker's teeth
• How long whitening lasts

Sources:

• Bupa, Top 10 teeth-staining foods, by Caitlin Miller, Head of Dental Hygiene and Therapy at Bupa Dental Care, 17 September 2025, next review due September 2028. bupa.co.uk
• American Dental Association, Oral Health Topics: Whitening, last updated 16 August 2022 (a United States source). ada.org
• Oral Health Foundation, Tooth whitening, last reviewed April 2026. dentalhealth.org