By: Stan Cristian
Submitted: 2009-02-02 10:09:03 | Word Count: 739
Bad breath is generally caused by bacteria, which releases sulfur compounds, when certain changes are made to its environment. In most cases, these changes are caused by food.
The fact that Garlic and Onion causes bad breath isn't news for anyone. But, do you know why they cause bad breath? It's because both garlic and onions have sulfur compounds. Sulfur is often used by nature to create odors. Everybody knows about the skunk for example. The odors that he is releasing are done as a defense mechanism.
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All that smell is created by his organism with the help of sulfur compounds (one of them is skatoles). If you let food out of the fridge for too long it will become spoiled. This happens because the food's proteins are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. The smell of sour milk for example is caused by the same type of bacteria that causes bad breath in people. And the same goes for meat as well.
There are four types of foods that boost the production of sulfur. They're listed all below:
1. Drying Agents: in most cases alcohol is the drying agent of choice when it comes to food. Obviously, alcohol is also used in most adult drinks, like wine, beer or hard liquor. The real problem is that alcohol is also used exactly in the product that should be fighting the problem, mouthwash. In chemical terms, alcohol is a desiccant.
It's often used in laboratories to reach places that are harder to clean, like beakers or test tubes. The same thing happens in the oral cavity. Something else you should know is that the alcohol doesn't even serve a purpose in the mouthwash. It's just used to make the mouthwash look appealing in the shop. While all the coloring chemicals and flavoring they use isn't soluble in water, but it is in alcohol.
Even though cigarettes aren't food, by smoking you're sure to have bad breath. It's even worse than alcohol.
2. Protein Foods That Are Dense: Everyone knows that you get bad breath if you eat dairy foods. In South California, two thirds of all people are lactose intolerant. Millions and millions of people worldwide can't eat dairy because their organism doesn't breakdown their proteins. If they do eat dairy, amino acids will build up in their organism. Then they will become sulfur compounds, with the help of the throat and tongue bacteria. In a few cases, the same thing will also happen when some people eat chicken, beef or fish.
There are also some rare cases where people can't break down the proteins from beans. This disease is called TMA (comes from Trimethylaminuria), though it's also called "Fish Odor Syndrome". The name comes from the smell, which is the same as that produced by fish that are decaying. The odor has in it nitrogen compounds and sulfur compounds. Those that have TMA aren't allowed foods with dense protein or beans.
3. Sugars: it would be really nice if you could just chew some M&Ms and lose the bad breath. Or how great would it be to get rid of Hershey Kisses. Those that are producing ALTOIDS would want you to believe this is possible. Besides Altoids, there are other products that try to convince people of the same thing, without a real basis. It has no basis in real science and it doesn't make much sense either. You do feel a MINT taste when you put a MINT flavor on your taste buds, but it's only a taste. The sugar that Altoids has will help the bacteria release sulfur compounds, so their claim of helping you get rid of the bad breath is just wrong.
Besides that, the bacteria can also use the present sugars and make glycan strands. These contribute to the creation of plaque on your teeth, which causes gum disease and tooth decay. It also boosts the bad breath. Because you can't really smell your own breath, you think everything is alright, feeling the mint on your taste buds, but not feeling the breath that others are smelling.
The conclusion is that you should avoid mints, candies and chewing gum if you want to keep a fresh breath.
4. Acidic Foods: below are some of the foods that you should avoid:
• Coffee – regular and decaf coffee have acids
• Tomato Juice
• Citrus Juices – Grapefruit, Pineapple and Orange Juice
Acidic foods are such a problem because bacteria react in a bad way to their environment.
