The article was prepared by a specialist for informational purposes only. We urge you not to self-medicate. When the first symptoms appear, consult a doctor.
The smell of garlic from the mouth after eating it is felt by others for up to 3-4 days. In order not to give up an extremely healthy product, you need to know the tricks on how to get rid of the smell of garlic from your mouth.
Why does intact garlic have almost no smell?
Probably everyone is familiar with this phenomenon: a whole clove almost does not spread a specific smell around itself. However, once you cut it or bite it, the aroma spreads throughout the house. What is the reason for such a bright effect?
It's all about a special substance - allicin, contained in garlic. After cells are damaged by a cut or other injury, a chemical reaction begins, based on the combination of two substances that were previously isolated from each other. Destroyed vacuoles open the way for their interaction; as a result of the reaction, a specific odor is released.
Thanks to allicin, garlic has received a natural remedy against rodents and fungi. Mankind has known about the properties of garlic to destroy bacteria and fungi for a very long time. The protection of this vegetable from damage, provided by nature, allowed man to turn its healing qualities to his benefit.
Citruses in the fight against aroma
An effective home method is to eat a slice of orange, tangerine, lemon, pomelo, or grapefruit. Add fruit to salads. The ability to suppress odors is inherent in fresh citrus fruits. If you expose them to heat, it will not be possible to cope with the task.
Do not think that only raw fruits are suitable for consumption. It is possible to create a drink or mouth rinse from them. Take an apple and lemon, chop and pour mineral water. You can use the resulting mixture at your discretion.
The peel is the most effective part of the citrus fruit. It suppresses unwanted odor and makes breathing pleasant for others and the person himself. To achieve the desired result, take the peel of a tangerine or orange and chew it.
How is garlic odor formed? Education mechanism
If even with minimal damage the clove smells strongly, then when you chop the garlic in a meat grinder or garlic press, the aroma becomes even more powerful.
The destruction of the cell structure of garlic leads to the combination of the following chemicals:
- Alliin is an amino acid;
- Alliinase is an enzyme.
They are initially contained in the same cell, but are isolated from each other by a special membrane. Alliin is contained in the cell cytoplasm, alliinase is found in the vacuoles of this cell. When the membrane is destroyed, the enzyme combines with an amino acid. The result of this reaction is the release of allicin, which contains about 70 compounds containing hydrogen sulfide.
The benefits of allicin for human health are undeniable. Almost all healing properties are associated with the presence of this chemical compound in garlic. Those who do not know how to remove the smell of garlic from their mouth and try to swallow it whole are making a mistake. An intact clove that does not contain allicin is devoid of all beneficial properties.
Other ways to eliminate repellent odors
It is not difficult to overcome the garlic smell. You will need to eat foods that will successfully cope with the task. The content of essential oils is welcome. Let's turn to folk wisdom:
- Use fresh coffee beans, fry them in a frying pan, chew them, and at the end of the procedure, rinse your mouth with clean water. Then you can calmly communicate with people around you without worrying about anything.
- If you want the effect to be eliminated in the stomach, slowly chew dill, parsley, and resort to eating wild garlic.
- Spices and seasoning have an eliminating effect. Cinnamon, cardamom, star anise or cloves will remove garlic from your breath in two minutes. This method is absolutely edible.
- Take three tablets of activated charcoal.
- Chew menthol gum.
- Rinse your mouth with the mixture: add a teaspoon of salt, soda, dry mustard to a glass of warm water. Rinse lasts 3 minutes.
What determines the persistence of garlic aroma?
Allicin is an unstable compound; it is destroyed as soon as it is formed. That is why, to preserve the aroma and beneficial properties, garlic is not heated or fried; it is added to dishes only at the end of cooking. Pickling garlic in whole cloves as part of preparations completely deprives it of its bactericidal properties.
During long-term storage, hydrogen sulfide compounds evaporate from the garlic heads. The most aromatic garlic is the one that was harvested not so long ago. After winter storage, no more than 5% of the biologically active substances from which allicin is formed remain in this product.
Rinse aids
Dentists recommend that lovers of spicy dishes with garlic always have mouthwash with them. This is an excellent hygiene product that prevents gum and tooth diseases. The rinse aid also effectively removes unpleasant odors. The essential oils in the composition neutralize the sulfur compounds in garlic.
List of recommended rinses:
- Listerine;
- Splat Complete;
- ORAL-B.
Fragrant garlic adds piquancy to dishes. It is also beneficial during cold and flu season. But the smell that is then heard from the mouth makes many people stop using it. And completely in vain. There are many ways to deal with the characteristic train. After the garlic dish, eat an apple, brush your teeth, and apply mouthwash. Then no one will guess what you just ate.
How to get rid of garlic odor from your mouth quickly and effectively
There are many ways to remove the smell of garlic from your mouth. Essentially, to remove odor, you need to neutralize those same 70 essential sulfur-containing compounds. Enzymes in the human digestive system are unable to break down allicin, causing others to endure a persistent odor from the mouth of a garlic lover.
Attention: the smell does not only come from the mouth or the digestive tract!
His sources:
- lungs,
- skin (with sweat);
- kidneys (with urine).
How to neutralize or at least reduce an obsessive unpleasant odor?
How to determine if your mouth smells
You can find out if you have bad breath using simple techniques:
- swipe a cotton pad or a piece of bandage along the middle part of the tongue, the inside of the cheek and sniff;
- Pass dental floss between the teeth several times, make sure there is no odor;
- Swipe a teaspoon over the surface of your tongue: see if there is a white coating on it, smell it;
- breathe into your cupped palms;
- exhale several times into a plastic cup, inhale from it.
See this life hack from the blogger:
Removing the smell of garlic using 5 hygiene procedures
There are several simple ways to get rid of the smell of garlic from your mouth after eating dishes richly seasoned with this spicy product.
Hygiene procedures:
- Cleaning teeth using toothpaste;
- Removing food between teeth using dental floss;
- Rinsing the mouth with a product with antibacterial properties (containing chlorhexidine, cetylpyrinidium chloride);
- Cleaning the tongue with a special scraper;
- Finally, use an irrigator to cleanse the oral cavity.
If it is impossible to carry out these activities for some reason, rinsing your mouth with a solution of salt and baking soda will help remove the smell. Rinsing your dishes and hands with this mixture will have a similar effect.
How to get rid of garlic odor on hands
To get rid of a pungent odor on your hands (for example, after cooking), you need to:
- wash your hands thoroughly with soap;
- wipe the skin with lemon or orange peel;
- wipe your hands with an antiseptic or a cotton swab soaked in alcohol (vodka);
- Cut a raw potato and rub the skin of your hands with half.
It is best to wear thin gloves when cooking with garlic. They will protect the skin from unpleasant odor.
How to neutralize with chemicals?
Now let’s talk about which modern chemicals can kill bad garlic breath, and how to use them for this.
Mouthwash . A mouthwash with a strong scent (such as peppermint or oak bark) will be effective in combating unpleasant odors. The label should indicate that the rinse is suitable for eliminating garlic odors. The same applies to all kinds of breath freshening sprays: but the mouth rinse in this case is more effective due to the fact that it washes away particles of garlic from the gums and teeth, helping to cleanse the oral cavity of food debris.- Baking soda and salt . One of the common folk recipes is to prepare a liquid paste of salt, soda and water, and then rinse your mouth with it.
- Chlorophyll tablets or capsules . This method of combating the unpleasant consequences of eating garlic is very popular abroad. How to use them to reduce an unpleasant odor? It is enough to take 2-3 tablets during a feast.
"Culprits" of bad breath
The first and most common reason is poor oral hygiene. Unclean teeth and food stuck in them are an excellent environment for the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.
In addition, the presence of dentures and various destructive processes in the oral cavity can cause an unpleasant odor:
- periodontal disease;
- caries;
- pulpitis;
- tartar, etc.
A common cause of bad breath is ENT diseases: laryngitis, sinusitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, nasal congestion, diseases of the trachea and lungs.
Another common accompaniment to the appearance of a nasty odor is dry mouth. Saliva is a useful mechanism provided by our body to cleanse the mouth of bacteria. With age, the salivary glands partially lose their functions, which leads to a reduction in saliva production. In this regard, the oral cavity is not cleaned sufficiently, and foci of inflammation appear. In addition, dry mouth can occur due to taking certain medications, as well as during prolonged conversation.
Bad breath appears due to disruption of the digestive system - gastritis, dysbacteriosis, gallbladder dyskinesia.
How long does it usually last before it can be neutralized?
If you immediately use one of the following methods to neutralize the smell of garlic, you don’t have to worry about the repellent odor. If you wait a few hours and only then begin to eliminate the garlic smell, you can reduce it slightly, but it will not completely disappear.
Not taking any steps to neutralize the smell of a vegetable means getting used to it for at least 72 hours.
It will take that long, or even longer, for those around you to detect the distinct aroma of garlic. Of course, the smell will gradually become less noticeable, but it will not completely disappear .
Why does onion and garlic cause bad breath?
Before we start saving your situation, let's figure out why eating onions and garlic affects our breath so much. In fact, there are many reasons for this, but the main one is the increased content of sulfur compounds in these products.
The main chemical that causes problems with fresh breath is allyl methyl sulfide (AMS). It is this that prevents you from overeating on onions and garlic without affecting your fresh breath.
Moreover, you must understand that rinsing your mouth or brushing your teeth will not be able to completely eliminate the unpleasant odor, because sulfur elements enter the bloodstream after eating. Thus, the smell of onions comes not only from your mouth, but also from inside your body when you start talking.
Moreover, in hot weather this smell can come from the pores, so be vigilant. However, you have every chance to minimize the consequences of taking onions and garlic, which we will talk about now.
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What diseases can it be present in?
The most dangerous phenomenon is when the smell of garlic from the mouth, sweat, skin, urine appears when a person avoids eating this vegetable. An unpleasant odor from the skin or sweat is already a symptom of existing problems with the health of organs or systems.
In an adult
Not all adults like this vegetable, fearing the unpleasant trail from its skin. Sometimes a subtle aroma appears among lovers of spicy dishes with an abundance of fragrant seasonings. By reducing your consumption of seasonings, you will get rid of the volatile substance that is present in them.
Sometimes excessive consumption of foods high in vitamin C causes the release of an ester similar to garlic. Ascorbic acid has the ability to accumulate in the body, then emit a garlic odor from the mouth and from sweat.
Athletes who rely heavily on protein foods may also feel a slight garlic ester from sweat during excessive exercise.
If there are diseases of the internal organs, then garlic aroma is a symptom of certain diseases:
- Gastrointestinal diseases, ulcers. In this case, a diet excluding spicy foods and seasonings will help. But first you need to undergo an examination so as not to be left with a disastrous result.
- Disturbances in the endocrine system. If the fragrance is accompanied by high nervousness, fatigue, irritability, and mood swings, then you must undergo a medical examination.
- Fungal infections of the skin can also be accompanied by bad breath and strong sweat.
- Problems with the pancreas may be accompanied by a garlic trail.
- If urine and discharge in women emit an unpleasant odor, then this may be a symptom of a genitourinary disease.
- Often, the garlic aroma of sweat indicates diseases of the nervous system and the appearance of tumors in the body.
If you do not eat garlic, but you notice the smell of garlic from your breath, sweat and urine, do not try to get rid of it using hygiene procedures. Go to the doctor and get examined.
What diseases still cause the smell of garlic from the mouth if the person has not eaten it:
- pregnancy;
- oral problems caused by bacteria;
- diseases of the urinary organs;
- excessive consumption of coffee, strong tea;
- side effect after taking some birth control pills;
- antibiotic treatment;
- chronic sinusitis.
The child has
Attentive parents may notice that a small child has the aroma of garlic coming from his mouth. It can occur when the baby is bottle-fed. This is fine. Stomach enzymes do not have time to process some nutritional components. You will be able to get rid of it when you switch to regular food.
If a child eats regular food, but bad breath does not go away, then you should contact your pediatrician. Do not try to remove this broadcast yourself.
Bad breath is a symptom of the following diseases in a child:
- Diseases of the endocrine system. Particular attention should be paid to the child’s behavior. If you experience excessive nervousness, tearfulness, irritability, or fatigue, you should immediately consult a doctor.
- Pathologies of the respiratory organs. Shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough may occur.
- Problems of the abdominal cavity and gastrointestinal tract. Stomach upset, nausea, and the child’s complaints about heaviness in the stomach after eating should not be ignored.
- Halitosis occurs after the use of choleretic drugs.
- Dental diseases.
If the child is not accustomed to performing hygiene procedures, then the smell will be noticeable in any case. From childhood, teach your child to brush his teeth. Buy a comfortable soft brush and children's toothpaste. To prevent your child from resisting brushing his teeth, teach him to brush with a pleasant-tasting children's toothpaste.
Oral hygiene should continue to cleanse the tongue from the accumulation of bacteria that causes bad breath.
In order not to miss the “bells,” you should be attentive to the condition of the children.
