We’ve been mainly focused on what causes bad breath and what the symptoms of bad breath are, but we’ve never covered food that can actually give you good breath.
Add the below foods in your diet and slowly see your oral health improve! Many of these foods also help with digestion – bad breath can essentially even be caused by improper digestion through poor saliva production through the salivary glands. Make sure that isn’t you!
Check out these 9 foods that will give you good breath:
1. Parsley
With its high natural chlorophyll content, Parsley has always been known to be a natural deodorizer when it comes to breath. Parsley has been known to mask sulfuric compounds, the ones that are present in foods like garlic & onions that give you bad breath, also known as Halitosis.
2. Water
Make sure you stay hydrated daily! As a baseline, start with 8 cups of water daily and adjust accordingly based on your lifestyle and fitness activity. What proper hydration allows for is again, aiding digestion through breaking down food and debris that get left behind in your meals. There’s really no stopping the food particles from getting stuck. It also helps to take a quick break to the restroom and rinse your mouth out with some water. You will literally see all the bits and pieces from your meal that gets left behind if you rinse out right after.
3. Yogurt
There are studies out that yogurt has been shown to reduce levels of odor causing bacteria, such as hydrogen sulfide in the mouth. It’s also been proven from recent research studies that the active bacteria you find in the ingredient labels of your yogurt, particularly Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus may have profound effects of reducing odor causing bacteria in the mouth that cause Halitosis.
4. Ginger
If you’ve been into natural herbs and remedies, ginger is a classic. Are you familiar with that “punch” ginger gives? It’s associated with 6-gingerol, which acts as a catalyst to break down the sulfuric compounds that get left behind from some of the foods you eat. Take note next time you eat ginger, you’ll find that you’ll drool a little more than usual, which helps freshen your breath!
5. Green Tea
Ah, another classic. Both ginger and green tea are all natural remedies that are very prevalent in traditional Eastern medical culture. Green tea is also widely known for its anti inflammatory properties and dense with body cleansing anti-oxidants. Green tea can help with gum inflammation (Periodontal disease), protects against cancer causing cells, and fights bad breath causing bacteria.
6. Cherries
Next time you opt for desert like cake or pie, add a cherry in there! There has been scientific studies that’ve shown that cherries remove compounds of methyl mercaptan, another one of the compounds that form in your mouth that can cause bad breath.
7. Coffee
Coffee, an excellent way to start your productive day! Although known to give “coffee breath”, there were studies done at Tel Aviv University in Israel to show that components present in coffee can prevent the bacteria from being smelled by others. Also, be careful with drinking coffee, as it can dry your mouth, which can also cause bad breath. See what drinking coffee does for you and evaluate on your own whether or not it gives you bad breath and if its tolerable. In most cases, coffee breath is no big deal.
8. Horseradish
Horseradish is a plant that is known to be a great source for dietary fiber, magnesium, and calcium that have been associated with many health improvements such as lower blood pressure, increased blood circulation, and an overall stronger immune system. However, horseradish is widely known for causing a strong, pungent smell in your mouth. Isothiocyantes in horseradish are what is responsible for that smell. Although these are widely known to cause a strong scent, studies have been done to show that they create better breath – by long term targeting bad breath forming compounds like sulfur.
9. Spinach
A personal staple in my diet – eating this stuff makes me feel so good the next day. Pair it with baby carrots for optimal health! Spinach contains polyphenols that work well in breaking down sulfuric compounds. Opt for some dishes like garlic with spinach – as the polyphenols will neutralize the smelly effect garlic will have, a common dish found in nice restaurants.
P.S. If you thought the list above was informative in making choices related to your oral health, check out BadBreathFreeForever, a very informative, online, step by step program that targets causes of bad breath at the source and not just promote solutions to mask up the symptoms of bad breath like a mint or chewing gum will do.