9 quick fixes for your bad breath caused by onion and garlic

Have you ever experienced a situation where you’ve had bad breath? If yes, you totally know how embarrassing it is for you and also for your social life. People around you start turning away or maintaining a distance, and that can be truly uncomfortable. Several times, even after using good mouthwash and brushing your teeth, bad breath does not go away. This can make you self-conscious. Well, we suggest that before reaching out for a solution, you should reach out to the cause. Maybe your daily diet can be blamed here!

How, you may ask! Well, onions and garlic are the most common ingredients which people use in day-to-day cooking and these can cause bad breath. 

Here’s why these ingredients cause bad breath

When a clove of garlic or onion is chopped or crushed, the compound allyl methyl sulfide is released. When ingested, this compound is absorbed into the bloodstream and can cause you sweat and breath to smell for a full day afterward. However, both ingredients are super healthy and add flavor and taste to the food. That’s why they can’t be avoided. 

So, how to cure bad breath naturally? Do you have to give up eating onion and garlic to escape the unpleasant odour? Absolutely not. We have brought to you some amazing home remedies to get rid of bad breath.

Dr Chirag Desai, Consultant Dentist, Wockhardt Hospital, tells HealthShots, Onion and garlic and other members of the Allium family are known to cause the peculiar ‘garlic breath’ or halitosis which can be quite embarrassing. But there are several ways to cope with it.

So this is how you can fight the awful garlic breath according to Dr Desai:

During the meal:

1. Add fresh fruits

Eating fresh fruits with or after a meal may cover up the smell of garlic and onion. Particularly effective fruits include apples, pears, plums, apricots and grapes. For salads add lettuce to the meal. 

2. Milk

The high water and fat content in milk help in reducing the bad breath. It is an effective home remedy to combat garlic and onion breath. 

3. Lemon water

A glass of lemon water after the meal can help combat halitosis. It acts as a natural mouth rinse. 

4. Green tea

Green tea contains polyphenols, plant chemicals that help to neutralise the sulphur compounds released in onion and garlic. In addition, it has antioxidants which are also so effective in combating bad breath. 

After the meal:

1. Drink water

Plenty of water to flush out the sulfuric chemicals out of your body as soon as possible. 

2. Chew cloves

Chewing Anise seeds, cloves, cardamom, parsley leaves, mint leaves come to the rescue. 

3. Brush your teeth

Brush, floss, rinse with mouthwash, clean your tongue and use a water flosser to remove all the food debris and plaque. 

4. Chewing mint flavoured gum

If you don’t have much time, chew a piece of mint flavoured gum to freshen your breath quickly. 

5. Oil pulling

Oil pulling is an ancient practice that involves swishing oil in your mouth to remove bacteria and promote oral hygiene. Oil pulling has also shown promising results in controlling bad breath. 

Try these remedies to help reduce the bad breath and keep it minimal!