6 Foods That Help with Bad Breath

Feb 10, 2024 By Madison Evans

We all use the best products – body wash, deodorants, and perfumes – to ensure that we smell nice, look presentable to society, and feel good about ourselves.

However, no matter how good you look or smell, all your remaining efforts will go down the drain if your breath is stinky. Hence, ensuring that you have fresh, minty breath is essential. If you are facing a bad breath issue and want to know what is happening and how to resolve it, this article has you covered. Hop on below to find out.

Why Does Your Breath Get Stinky?

Stinky breaths when you get up in the morning after an entire night of mouth breathing is another expect and is usually fixed once you brush your teeth. However, if you are someone who touches twice a day, floss to remove any debris that might result in bad breath and is regular with their dentist appointments but still faces bad breath, it is an entirely different issue.

Well, if you are wondering why your breath is stinky despite all this, let us give you some insight into this. It is due to the bacteria in your mouth. Yes! You heard us right. The microbes in your mouth feast on the remaining food particles and dead cells. This, in turn, turn causes the production of sulfur compounds, which cause halitosis (bad breath).

So, the question stands: how can you prevent this bad breath from occurring when even proper oral hygiene is not working? Well, my friend, the secret to it is a few foods you should incorporate into your everyday life. Want to know what these food types are? We have a list covered for you.

6 Foods Which Help Fight Bad Breath

Here is a list of six amazing foods that help fight bad breath easily:

Raw Fruits and Vegetables

Crunchy fruits and vegetables like celery, apples, carrots, and even kale are packed with fiber, and if there is one aspect, we can guarantee that this same fiber will help you fight bad breath. How so?

Fibers hold an abrasive power that acts like a toothbrush and hence is a great food component to keep your mouth clean. Moreover, fruits and vegetables packed with fiber also help produce more saliva, which in turn helps fight against bad breath.

Foods Rich in Vitamin C

We mentioned above that the major reason for the production of bad breath in your mouth is due to the bacteria that reside inside. So, shouldn’t you focus more on taking the component that helps minimize these bacteria? Well, yes, but the question is, what food component is it? Wondering the same? Let us answer it for you.

Any food rich in vitamin C, like citrus fruits, berries, melons, etc., is great to incorporate into your diet and can help minimize bad breath. On top of this, vitamin C is also an amazing source to fight gum infections and can further reduce bad breath.

Tea

It is not technically a food, but tea is one aspect many people worldwide consume. So, it was natural for it to make the list of the foods that help fight bad breath.

Tea holds odour-fighting properties that are unlike anything else. This is especially the case with green and black teas, containing antioxidants and polyphenols that help kill the sulfur-producing sulfur-producing bacteria in your mouth and help diminish bad breath.

However, while you are at it, ensure you do not consume too much black tea. While it is excellent at reducing sulfur compound production and killing bacteria, it can also lead to a dry mouth, worsening your mouth odor.

Cherries

While a lot of fruits tend to fight bad breath, cherries might top the list among all. Its excellence in fighting halitosis or bad breath is the presence of compounds in cherries that help eliminate methyl mercaptan.

Methyl mercaptan is a compound that generates a rotten cabbage odor in our mouth. Cherries tend to break up this odor, ensuring a cleaner and fresh-smelling mouth and bad breath. The best part? Cherries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, ultimately elevating the ladder of foods that help reduce or fight bad breath.

Herbs and Spices

Currently, chewing sugarless gums works wonders for maintaining a fresher breath. However, did you know that before the invention of such gums, people nibbed on natural herbs and spices to get rid of their foul breaths?

Yes! You heard us right. Herbs and spices like parsley, spearmint, and even rosemary have proven to work wonders for achieving fresher breaths since the times of the Greeks. Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine, created a mouthwash simply from wine and herbs.

Hence, if you do not like chewing gums, try chewing onto these herbs and attain a fresher breath. If chewing raw spices and herbs is not your game, then you can boil these in water, too.

Dark Chocolate or Cocoa

All chocolate lovers gather around because we are about to give you the news of a lifetime. Eating chocolates is one of the best means to reduce bad breath. However, what needs to be ensured is that your chocolate has low sugar content.

Hence, dark chocolate works best in such cases. This is because, similar to tea, dark chocolate also contains odour-fighting polyphenols called catechin. These catechins help eliminate foul or garlic-y smell from the mouth. However, if you find dark chocolate too bitter and not in preference to your taste buds, you can always use cocoa powder in smoothies and cereals as an alternative.

Wrapping Up!

If you are tired of constantly brushing your teeth and still not being satisfied with your breath smells, we hope this article helped you understand why your breath can turn bad. Try incorporating these food types into your everyday routine, and we hope you see positive results.