Monday 22 March 2010

Yogurt May Chase Away Bad Breath (Halitosis)


If you’ve tried mints, mouthwash and toothpaste but your breath still offends, maybe you should skip the oral hygiene aisle. Next time, try the dairy case.

In a small study, Japanese researchers have found that eating traditional, sugarless yogurt reduces the malodorous compounds that cause bad breath. It also cuts down on plaque and gingivitis, they discovered.

The study, funded in part by a major Japanese yogurt maker, was presented March 10 at the International Association for Dental Research annual meeting, in Baltimore.

Halitosis, or bad breath, is caused by anaerobic bacteria that breed on the back of the tongue, producing volatile sulfur compounds. One of those compounds, hydrogen sulfide, is the stuff that causes your breath to smell like rotten eggs.

Lead author Kenichi Hojo and colleagues from Tsurumi University in Yokohama, Japan, decided to investigate yogurt because of its effects in preventing gastrointestinal problems and research indicating that regular yogurt consumption reduces the risk of dental decay.

We are thinking that yogurt must be good for oral health, also,” said study co-author Nobuko Maeda, a professor of microbiology at the university.

Researchers recruited 24 volunteers. Each person received identical instructions for oral hygiene, diet and medication intake. In the initial phase of the study, participants were asked not to consume yogurt or products containing streptococci and lactobacilli, such as cheese and pickled vegetables. During the second phase, they consumed 90 grams of yogurt, or a little more than 3 ounces, twice a day for six weeks.

Researchers collected samples from the participants’ saliva and tongue coatings, and measured volatile sulfide compound concentrations in the air of people’s mouths.

Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.

Source The News International

Copyright 2010

No comments: