Did you ever wonder why garlic makes your breath smell bad? It’s not something that keeps me up late at night worrying, but at the same time, I do try to keep my distance from other people in the room after enjoying one of my favorite meals of tortellini in garlic-cheese marinara sauce.
Garlic has sulphuric compounds that cause your bad breath. Garlic comes from the allium plant family which produces cysteine sulfoxide. Cysteine sulfoxide is an enzyme that gives garlic its very distinct odor and taste. In fact, cysteine sulfoxide is very similar to the compounds that are produced by the bacteria in your body that cause bad breath.
There are two different ways that garlic contributes to bad breath in your mouth and body. If you eat garlic, it gets inside your mouth and sticks to your teeth and gums. The odor will remain in your mouth as long as the garlic remains. Second and even more interesting, is that the garlic odor comes back up to your mouth through your lungs. This garlic smell coming from your lungs is no longer garlic but allyl methyl sulfide (AMS). AMS is a gas that is absorbed in your blood stream during the metabolism of garlic. Your blood stream transfers it to your lungs and you eventually exhale it. You will also excrete AMS through your pores. So your entire body can sometimes smell like garlic. You can brush your teeth and use mouthwash and breath mints all you want but you will continue to exhale the garlic smell as long as you have allyl methyl sulfide in your lungs.
How to get rid of garlic breath
The simple answer is you can’t get rid of it immediately. Make sure to brush your teeth, floss and use mouth wash. That will take care of any compounds still remaining in your mouth and will help mask the odor coming from your lungs.
There are a few herbal remedies that many believe can help as well:
Parsley – Parsley is effective in neutralizing the odors of garlic. Try chewing on parsley after eating garlic and you may see better results.
Cardamom, cloves, anise – these herbs are also like parsley because they help neutralize or mask the garlic odor.
Garlic is delicious and good for your health. My opinion is that everyone should eat garlic at the same meal. That way, none of us will notice the smell!
