How to remove the smell of garlic from your mouth? The most effective methods

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.

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.

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.

Can the sense of smell and taste disappear forever?

This question cannot be answered unambiguously. In most cases, patients who have had Covid recover their sense of smell on their own. And at the same time, there are situations when we see that without medical help the sense of smell does not recover for a long time, for example, for a year after an illness. Perhaps the situation will normalize later. But since the full functioning of the olfactory system is important for the health of the entire body, we recommend taking measures to restore the sense of smell, rather than letting the process take its course.

Diseases that affect the sense of smell

Impaired sense of smell occurs not only with coronavirus infection; there are other situations that cause similar side effects.

Inflammatory and allergic diseases of the ENT organs, when there is swelling of the mucous membrane and air access to the olfactory receptors is difficult.
Abuse of vasoconstrictors.
Anosmia is a genetic disease in which the olfactory bulb is absent and a person cannot smell at all.
Severe stress.
Initial manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases - Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease.

How to restore your sense of smell

Inna Mukhina

general practitioner, clinical aromatherapist at the Allergy and Acoustics Center (Tyumen), author of scientific articles on aromatherapy

– According to existing approaches, in case of long-term impairment of the sense of smell, it is important to consult an ENT doctor to rule out ENT pathologies, and consult a neurologist to rule out visible changes in the brain.

Among medications, according to global reviews, products containing the fat-soluble form of vitamin A are recommended.

The use of aromatherapy methods and means has gained recognition; psychophysiological exercises and olfactory breathing exercises using natural essential oils have proven themselves.

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.

How can you tell if a person has a garlic aroma?

The repulsive smell bothers everyone. Imagine: the smell of fresh garlic eaten comes from those nearby. They avoid them, trying not to inhale the fumes. To avoid undesirable situations, you will have to learn to determine how strongly a similar aroma manifests itself when eating garlic. This is not difficult to achieve.

Take a glass or plastic cup, press it tightly to your mouth, exhale. Quickly bring the contents to your nose and smell the contents. If an unpleasant odor is in the air, eliminate the consequences immediately. The sensation of garlic amber is easily determined by saliva. Lick your wrist, smell the area. The ideal option is to ask loved ones to give their impressions of the quality of their breathing.

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?

Carrots, potatoes, mushrooms

Combine garlic with other vegetables and mushrooms in dishes (Photo: ru.freepik.com)
These products partially neutralize the smell of garlic. Therefore, it is logical to add it in fresh or granulated form to stewed vegetables and mushrooms. Then the aroma will not be so strong.

Try not to eat foods with garlic and onions before an important meeting. This will help you maintain confidence and not worry about fresh breath.

What ways do you know to quickly eliminate garlic and onion breath? Tell us in the comments.

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.

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.

Gum

This method is probably one of the simplest. But before you put chewing gum in your mouth, you need to brush your teeth very well and for a long time. Only after this do we take chewing gum, preferably menthol.

Just keep in mind that the effect of this method will not last long. It will last exactly as long as your chewing gum lasts.

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.