10 Foods That Give You Bad Breath
Acidic Foods
Science notes that acids may cause bacteria to reproduce much faster. Neutralizing this acidic condition is necessary to inhibit bacterial growth and reduce VSC emission, which means avoiding or limiting consumption of acidic foods or beverages. Common culprits are coffee, tomato juice, pineapple juice, all citrus juices, sodas, pasta sauce, ketchup, pickles, fatty meats, olives, butter, and chocolate.
Protein
Eating too much of it can cause your breath to smell baaaad. “When you don’t eat enough carbs, the body burns fat and protein for fuel. It does so by a process called ketosis. Unfortunately, ketones have an awful smell that cannot be masked by brushing or flossing,” says Isabel Smith, RD. Cutting back on your daily dose of protein and upping your carbs can remedy the issue, as can doubling your water intake.
Garlic
Garlic’s strong smells don’t just immediately impact your mouth; it can make your bad breath linger. It’s high in sulfur, which can also enter your bloodstream after eating, and exit through your lungs, which is why some people feel like they taste garlic for days after eating it.
Sugars
Bacteria that cause bad breath use sugars as a super fuel. Candies, mints, and chewing gum that contain sugar do not eliminate this problem. In fact, the sugar in most breath mints actually causes the anaerobic bacteria to become super active and create even more offensive, sulfur compounds. Strong mint or fruit flavors mask foul breath, but do nothing to combat the bacteria causing this problem, and further, can 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.
Onions
Yep, it’s another vegetable that’s notorious for causing stinky breath. Onions also contain high sulfurous compounds that can give you bad breath for days, similar to garlic. “When these sulfurous compounds enter your blood system, you can get a double whammy of bad breath coming from your mouth and lungs,” Napoli says.