Do you like dishes seasoned with garlic but don’t mind the breath that goes with them? Researchers have found the food that cuts all bad odors at the end of a meal. And it’s probably in your fridge.
Falling for a dish that contains garlic should no longer be a problem, thanks to the latest study from a team at Ohio State University. While she had already studied the effects of enzymes contained in apples, mint or milk to attenuate the odorous effects of spicy dishes, now she has identified an even more formidable food: natural yogurt would be capable to counteract the sulfur-based compounds found in garlic.
Proteins and fats have an anti-odor action
Thus alerted to its deodorizing power, the researchers wanted to understand how this food overcomes the sulfur odor of garlic. They therefore individually tested different components (water, fats and proteins) to see how each resisted the harmful olfactory power of garlic.
They placed equal amounts of raw garlic in glass bottles, and measured the levels of volatile sulfur molecules, present in gaseous form, before and after each treatment. Result: full-fat yogurt reduces 99% of the main compounds responsible for odors.
When introduced separately, the fat, water and protein components of yogurt also have a deodorizing effect on raw garlic, but fat and protein perform better than water, even when changing the PH of yogurt.
Greek yogurt, the best ally against garlic
“High protein is a very trendy thing at the moment – in general, people want to eat more protein,” said Sheryl Barringer, lead author of the study “An unintended side benefit could be a high-protein formulation that could be promoted as a breath freshener in addition to its nutritional claims”, she said. With this in mind, if natural or fruit yogurts seem to work, it is Greek yogurt that wins all the votes: they are the richest in fats and proteins!
It should be eaten just after the main course. “HASWith the apples, we recommended eating them immediately afterwards, reports Sheryl Barringer recalling a previous study on the subject. We suppose it’s the same with yogurt: take your garlic and eat the yogurt right away”.
Too much protein can also cause bad breath
Be careful, however: if the study concludes that the fats and proteins contained in yogurt benefit from a “deodorizing” effect on garlic, be aware, however, that too much protein will have the opposite effect. Thus a high-protein diet, combined with low carbohydrate intake, causes the migration of triglycerides to the liver where they are transformed into ketone bodies. It is the presence of these ketone bodies that is responsible for bad breath.
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