This is not a medical site. Information on this page is provided on a
"best efforts" basis for interest only and does not constitute
personal advice.
It is essential that you discuss medical matters with your doctor.
Please read the site terms of use.
|
Despite the many culinary and health benefits of garlic there is one
serious drawback: it's hard to prevent garlic breath. The more you enjoy garlic, the more of it
you are likely to consume and the worse the garlic breath problem is likely to become.
One unfortunate facet of bad breath is that you can rarely smell it
yourself. If you eat a lot of garlic then it is probably safest to assume
that you do have garlic breath, even if your friends are too polite to
mention it!
Many substances cause breath problems. One of the reasons that garlic breath
is so strong is that garlic is full of sulphorous compounds. These compounds
"feed" the bacteria in the mouth and bad breath (halitosis) is caused as a result.
If you have bad breath generally then you probably have a lot of these halitosis
inducing bacteria in
your mouth anyway and so will suffer more from the effects of garlic.
Is There a Cure?
The only guaranteed way to prevent garlic breath is simply not to eat garlic!
For some of us that is inconceivable. However, if your main
reason for eating garlic is for the health benefits then you could consider
switching to odourless garlic supplements instead.
Unfortunately there's no way of getting rid of the symptoms of garlic
eating totally. You
can reduce and mask the smell of your breath, but garlic still works its
way through your entire system. So even with a powerful bad breath cure the garlic
will usually still emerge from your pores the next day.
A true garlicophile can literally "seep" garlic through the skin.
That said, there are some ways that the problems can at least be reduced.
How to Get Rid of Garlic Breath
Bacteria induced garlic breath can be reduced by usual oral hygene methods.
Standard halitosis remedies include regular use of mouthwash, brushing and flossing teeth and tongue
scraping.
There are also commercial bad breath remedies available which are more
powerful than the usual mouthwashes you can buy in supermarkets. These are
available from your doctor, your pharmacist or to buy online.
Another method of reducing garlic breath is to eat parsley with the meal. This
seems to counteract the problem to some extent, although it doesn't
prevent it completely. It's probably no coincidence that many garlic
recipes also contain parsley. However it is not enough just to sprinkle in a
teaspoon of dried parsley when cooking. To get the effect you need to chew at
least one sprig of fresh parsley, preferably more. Ideally this
should be chopped and added near the end of cooking.
Some people also claim that chewing cardamon seeds has a similar effect to
parsley and can work as a garlic breath remedy. Cardamon has a very strong
flavour so this might not be an option for some people.
Perhaps the best solution to the garlic breath problem is to ensure that you
surround yourself with friends who are also garlicophiles!
Please read the site terms of use.
| 
