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You know that food and bad breath can go together. And you know the usual suspects: onions, garlic, coffee, alcohol. Here is a surprise for you.
What Is a Favorite Food that Causes Bad Breath?
I love sugar. More specifically, I love chocolate, and I love cheese cake, and then there is crème Brule, and peanut butter cups, strawberry shortcake, and, and, and…. You’ve heard all of the bad stuff about sugar – bad for teeth, bad for weight, some debate about skin, bad for energy, bad for health. Here it comes —- now sugar causes bad breath.
What Does Sugar Have to Do with Bad Breath
Some foods are extra good at being fuel for the bacteria in your mouth. Sugar is one of those foods. The bacteria love it. They thrive and reproduce, making more bacteria, and at the same time, each and every one of the bacteria digests the sugars to create the stinky sulfur compound waste products that make your breath stink.
Besides that fine bit of halitosis help, there are other bacteria in your mouth that use sugars to create stuff, called glycan strands, that cause layers of plaque to build up on your teeth and at the gum line. The layers of plaque provide a great home for more bad breath causing bacteria. Not only that, the plaque can lead to gum disease and to tooth decay, which also create bad breath problems of their own.
Surprising Statistics
How big a problem is this? I was reading an article in a waiting room magazine and found some disturbing and amazing statistics. In the late 1800’s the average person ate about 5 pounds of sugar a year. Today, combining cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup, the average American eats 2 – 3 pounds of sugar a week. You may not think you are eating that much sugar, but start checking labels. There is sugar in bread, crackers, ketchup, salad dressing, commercial chicken broth. Go through your refrigerator and your kitchen shelves and read the ingredients of the processed foods you have there. Or go down the aisle in your grocery store. Even if you shop in a natural food store, you’ll find more sugar than you expect even if it is called raw sugar.
So, sweets lover or not, sugar is one of those bad breath causes. How about sugar substitutes? Sorry aspartame is just another cause of bad breath, too.
Bummer.
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