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!
What Is Garlic Breath?
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 breath problems can at least be reduced.
Next: Garlic Breath Cures
Please read the site terms of use.
| 
