14 Foods That Cause Bad Breath
- Paige Faye
- Apr 3, 2021
- 4 min read

If you want to be more attractive to others, aside from your personality and how you are as a person, your physical traits do matter as well. You need to be well dressed, and of course, your smell is one of the factors as well. When you are talking to others, you do not want others to feel like they are choking because of your breath right? Aside from maintaining your hygiene and brush your teeth often, another thing you can do is to look after what you put into your body. Here are some of the food that you should avoid if you want fresh smelling breath.
1. Onion
Onion does not only make you cry when you cut it. It also makes the people you are talking to cry if you eat too much of it. The reason why onions tend to make your mouth smell is that they contain sulphur, which has the ability to flow right through your bloodstream alongside the air you breathe, and as you are exhaling the sulphur will be exhaled together.
2. Garlic
Just like onions, garlic contains the sulphur in it that does the same function like them. Although garlic is beneficial to your body, just make sure you eat a small amount of them or eat garlic as part of your last meal of the day, where you wouldn’t be having much socialising later on in that day.
3. Coffee
Although coffee tastes good, just for coffee lovers, they tend to cause a drying effect in your mouth when you drink them, and thus creating a perfect environment for bacteria to grow in your mouth. Aside from that, the drying effect also causes a slow flow of saliva in your mouth, thus allowing the bacteria that cause the smell to stay longer in your mouth.
4. Cheese
Cheese is one of the dairy products, and though they are high in proteins and are great for you, on the downside they also activate the bacteria in your intestines to break the protein down. The bacteria will start to create a foul smell, and at the same time, it will also produce sulphur compounds, which work just sulphur works in garlic and onions.
5. Tuna
Tuna, being seafood, on its own contains a sour and fishy smell. When they are brought to be processed in the factory, they will be exposed to the air first, which causes oxidation in the fishes. As they are high protein food as well, the smell will be produced like how it was in cheeses. Alongside the smell of the tuna on their own, the combination will create a strong foul smell.
6. Alcohol
Alcohol works like coffee, where they have the tendency to dry out your mouth, the difference is that alcohol dehydrates your whole body as well. Just like coffee, the drying effect would reduce the saliva flow in your mouth, leaving a great breeding ground for bacteria to grow.
7. Sugar
Eating sugar does not just ruin your teeth, they ruin your breath as well. Studies show that the intake of sugary products would cause the building up of plaque that coats your teeth and gum, which is associated with the growth of bacteria. The worst part is that in sugary conditions, bacteria tend to grow even quicker, which would create the smell.
8. Tomatoes
Although tomatoes are healthy food but do keep in mind to take them in limitation. As they are food with high acidity, they help bacteria prepare a great growing area, as bacteria thrive to be in an acidic environment. With a perfect ground for them to grow, the bacteria will then produce a foul smell.
9. Curry
Curry usually contains a lot of spices, and these spices are prone to causing bad breath as the spices are natural ingredients that are strong in smell. Furthermore, some curry even contains garlic or onion in them to make them smell better, but for our mouths, they do the complete opposite.
10. Red Meat
Red meat is from meats like chicken, pork, beef, and so on. This food is known for its high level of protein and can be good for our body, but they are terrible for us if we just want to keep our breath fresh. Just like cheese and tuna, they activate the bacteria in our gut and produce sulphur that causes bad breath.
11. Milk
Milk, like cheese, is a dairy product, so how they cause bad breath is the same. But aside from activating the bacteria in our intestines and producing sulphur, one thing dairy product does is that they contain amino acids, which naturally produces an odour the moment you drink it.
12. Bell Peppers
Bell peppers, or also known as capsicum, can be healthy as they are a type of vegetable, but unfortunately are able to produce bad breath. As capsicum contains capsaicin in them, they create the effect of “spiciness” and this spiciness also contains high acidity. Thus, like any other acidic food, they create a perfect ground for bacteria to grow.
13. Citrus Fruits
Citrus is yet another one of the acidic food that is likely to create a bad breath in your mouth. As they are high in acidity, they attract bacteria to breed in them, and in the meantime creating an odour in your mouth. Aside from that, citrus fruits tend to make your mouth feeling dry, yet another factor for the growth of bacteria.
14. Yogurt
Yogurt is also another kind of dairy product, just like milk and cheese. Although a small amount of yogurt wouldn’t do much hurting to your breath, a huge serving of yogurt would not only cause the sulphur and foul smell to be produced, they also dry up your mouth after having too much of it.
These are some of the food that you should avoid if you are trying to maintain a fresh breath all day long. Although some of these foods can be healthy and that you might be missing some of the nutrients from these foods, just think about it, having bacteria growing in your mouth and producing the foul smell isn’t very healthy either, so why not just avoid them?
*Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that the descriptions for the points shown are dependent on researches are done by the writer and are just for entertainment purposes and do not intend to offend anyone in any way. Should you be responsible for any unpleasant caused to you before reading this article all by the title. The writer would not be responsible for any emotional and mental issues that have happened due to the extracted information shown.
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