The best way to avoid this is to refrain from eating garlic and onion. However, it may not always be feasible to resist the temptation to consume them. Moreover, it is also not wise to miss out on their health benefits. Don’t worry. We have some tricks to help you get rid of garlic and onion breath. Keep reading to learn more. While both onions and garlic have a wide range of health and medicinal benefits, many avoid eating them as the bad breath may linger around for hours or even overnight. Fortunately, there are helpful home remedies that can you can try out to eliminate onion or garlic breath.
9 Ways To Get Rid Of Garlic And Onion Breath
1. Brush And Floss
Brushing and flossing are important steps of a good oral care regimen. They can help you get rid of onion/garlic breath by brushing away the residues that may be left in your mouth post eating, thereby reducing the odor almost instantly. However, they work best with tongue cleaning (1).
2. Use A Tongue Scraper
Tongue cleaning helps in reducing the volatile sulfur compounds inside your mouth, thereby reducing halitosis as well as onion or garlic breath (2).
3. Rinse With Mouthwash
Following a routine of tooth brushing, tongue cleaning, and rinsing your mouth with mouthwash is a sure shot way to freshen your breath. Together, these practices were found to give the best results against halitosis or bad breath and may also be a great treatment option for garlic breath (1). Mouthwashes containing chlorine dioxide are one of the best options for getting rid of bad breath (3).
4. Baking Soda
1-2 teaspoons of baking soda 1 cup of warm water
You can rinse your mouth with this solution multiple times daily, preferably after every meal. The action of bacteria on the sulfur-containing compounds from onion, garlic, and other foods is one of the main causes of bad breath. The antibacterial effect of baking soda can help reduce bad breath by fighting the oral bacteria responsible for triggering it (4).
5. Lemon Water
1 tablespoon of lemon 1 cup of warm water
You may do this 1-2 times daily, preferably after your meals. Lemon juice has a low pH. It deactivates the alliinase enzyme that is responsible for the breakdown of sulfur compounds in the mouth, which results in bad breath (5).
6. Drink Milk
Surprising as it may sound, consuming milk can actually mask the garlic breath. The effect is even more evident if milk is mixed with garlic before drinking. The high water and fat content in milk help in reducing garlic breath (6).
7. Chew Gum
Chewing on any mint-flavored gum is usually a quick fix to mask bad breath. However, there are also many gums available that aim at getting rid of halitosis. Chewing gums that contain probiotics, zinc acetate, and magnolia bark, eucalyptus, and allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) with zinc lactate were found to be effective in managing bad breath (7).
8. Green Tea
1 teaspoon of green tea 1 cup of hot water
You can drink green tea 1-2 times daily, preferably right after a meal for best results. Green tea exhibits disinfectant and deodorant properties that can help in getting rid of garlic or onion breath (8).
9. Apple
A few slices of a cut apple Chew on a few slices of a raw apple after meals. You can do this 1-2 times daily. Raw apples can neutralize the sulfur-containing compounds in garlic and onion, thereby helping in the elimination of garlic or onion breath (5). What is garlic breath a symptom of? Generally, garlic breath occurs due to the consumption of garlic. However, in rare cases, it may be a symptom of serious liver disease. Does coffee help reduce garlic breath? Anecdotal evidence suggests that chewing on roasted coffee beans or swishing freeze-dried coffee in the mouth can help eliminate garlic breath. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence to back these claims.
