Foods to Have:
Apples 1 small
Cherries 1 cup
Lettuce 2 cups
Milk 1 cup
Pears 1 medium
Green tea 1 cup
Yogurt 1 cup
Also consider: Water, prunes, peaches, plums, apricots, berries, bananas, honey, agave, avocados, peppermint, gum, cinnamon, basil, mushrooms, cardamom, lettuce, endive, eggplants, cranberries
Do not consider: Smoking, alcohol, spicy foods, sugar, coffee, black tea, onions, garlic
What is bad breath?
Eating foods that have a strong odor associated with them certainly can cause halitosis, or bad breath. But the driving force behind chronic halitosis is often poor dental care. Neglecting to floss and brush your teeth allows food particles to remain and feed odor-causing bacteria in the mouth. If dental hygiene is neglected for a long time, it can cause gum disease, which occurs when plaque builds up on the teeth. Bacterial overgrowth can also cause yeast infections in the mouth and cavities. Simply by brushing your teeth and tongue twice a day and flossing once a day, you can do a great deal in reducing foul mouth odor. Semiannual teeth cleanings and dental exams to rule out tooth decay and gum disease are essential for sweet-smelling breath.
Got that covered? If you still have offensive breath, look into these factors for the root cause: smoking; drinking alcohol; having a dry mouth or dehydration; not eating for long periods of time; certain medications; a low-carb/high-protein diet; or having health problems, especially digestive woes such as heartburn, reflux, or constipation. Foods with strong odors may need to pass through the body completely for the bad breath to end; however some foods' odor, such as that of garlic, may even be detected seeping through the skin!
Did you know?
It's estimated that 65 percent of Americans have bad breath. About a billion dollars a year is spent on such products as gum and mints, which mask but do not eliminate the causes of bad breath.
Apples
In a study evaluating a variety of different fruits' and vegetables' affect on combating garlic breath, eating an apple significantly reduced garlic odor. The vitamin C, and saliva produced by eating an apple, also may have a positive effect on keeping breath smelling fresh.
Apple-bobbing began as a Celtic New Year's tradition to predict one's future spouse.
Cherries
Although there are several types of cherries, they fall into one of two categories: sweet or tart. Cherries are a good source of fiber and vitamin C. The antioxidants in cherries help keep inflammation in check, and it is thought that some of the phytonutrients in this fruit, such as anthocyanins, which give cherries their wonderful red color, help remove the odor of methyl mercaptan, the colorless gas released in decaying organic matter and garlic.
Lettuce
Often thought as being the least nutritious vegetable, lettuce may be one of the easiest and most effective tools you have at your fingertips to fight dragon breath and stop friends and family from saying, "Let-tuce back away from YOU!" Romaine, an example of a nutritionally superior lettuce variety, contains more vitamin A and C than do most other varieties and also the plant nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, which promote eye and other areas of health. Lettuce has shown high activity in human studies for removing the odor of methyl mercaptan.
Most of the lettuce served and eaten in the United States comes from the New York variety or Imperial strain, which is very similar to but wrongly called iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce, in fact, has red-tinged leaves.
Milk
Studies have demonstrated that cow's milk reduced the odor of many malodorous substances, such as thiols, sulfides, and disulfides, commonly found in the Allium family (garlic, onions, leeks, and chives). Whole milk seemed to be a little more effective than the nonfat variety in this regard.
The oldest evidence of milking animals was found in a cave painting series in the Libyan Sahara. Milking and cheese making dates back to 5000 BC.
Pears
Pears taste much better when they ripen off the tree rather than on! Like apples, pears are an excellent source of fiber, particularly insoluble fibers called cellulose, hemicellulose, lignan, and pectin, which research supports as fighting heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. They are also a good source of vitamin C. Pears were found to be effective for reducing phlegm, a source of bad breath. Also, unripe pears significantly reduced bad breath from eating garlic in a study.
Green Tea
Both green and black tea come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. However, green tea is a richer source of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (ECGC), the subject of much research for its free radical–scavenging and cancer-fighting properties. The polyphenols in green tea fight bacteria that lead to dental caries and neutralize odor-causing sulfur compounds from other foods and bad bacteria.
Yogurt
A daily dose of yogurt reduced malodorous hydrogen sulfide in a study. This may be due to certain strains of friendly bacteria, such as Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which compete for growth with bad bacteria that contribute to bad breath.