Everyone knows that eating onions or garlic will cause bad breath - but do you know why? It's because sulfur is nature's way of creating odours - and onions and garlic contain molecules called mercaptans that are actual sulfur compounds.
These smelly, sulfur compounds are released by certain bacteriathat occur naturally in your oral environment. These bacteria assist your digestion by breaking down the proteins found in the food you eat. Unfortunately, during this process the bacteria actually extract the odourous, sulfur compounds from amino acids in the proteins. This is why there are so many foods that cause bad breath.
There are four main categories of foods that cause bad breath by activating the bacteria that produce the smelly sulfur compounds.
- Drying agents - The most common drying agent in food is alcohol. Alcohol is the basis of all adult beverages such as beer, wine, and hard liquor. Unfortunately, it is also used in many brands of mouthwash where it only makes your bad breath problem worse. Foods or beverages that contain alcohol are among the most common foods that cause bad breath.
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Dense protein foods –Dairy, meat and fish contain dense proteins used as a food source by the sulfur-producing bacteria which cause bad breath. Other common foods that cause bad breath due to their dense proteins are eggs, many nuts and seeds and also many types of beans and lentils..
Dairy foods can cause bad breath especially in lactose intolerant people because the buildup of proteins during digestion is even greater, and those proteins are easily broken down into odourous, sulfur compounds by the bad breath bacteria. Interestingly, an article in the Los Angeles Times noted that over 50% of the population in southern California is lactose intolerant. -
Sugars - Stay away from foods that contain sugar. The bacteria that cause bad breath use sugars as a super fuel. Candies, mints, and chewing gum that contain sugar do not help to eliminate bad breath. In fact, the sugar in most breath mints actually causes the bad breath bacteria to become super active and create even more offensive, sulfur compounds. The strong, mint or fruit flavourings only mask your bad breath. They don’t do anything to combat the bacteria that are causing your bad breath. They actually make your breath worse.
In addition, other types of bacteria in your mouth use sugars to produce glycan strands, which cause thick layers of plaque on your enamel and around your gums. These glycan strands lead to tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath.
If you need to use breath mints or chew gum, use products that contain Xylitol as a sweetening agent. It’s a natural product that actually prevents tooth decay. -
Acidic Foods - It is a scientific fact that acids make bacteria reproduce much faster. So to slow down the production of bacteria that cause bad breath, it is helpful to avoid eating or drinking acidic foods or beverages.
Common acidic beverages or foods that cause bad breath are coffee, tomato juice, all citrus juices, sodas, pasta sauce, ketchup, pickles, fatty meats, olives, butter and chocolate.
