Raw lettuce counters ‘garlic breath’

They both halve the level of bad breath and for 30 minutes afterwards, say researchers at Ohio State University.

The researchers gave a group of volunteers – who had chewed some garlic cloves – a range of antidotes, from plain water, apples – raw, juiced and heated – lettuce, mint leaves or green tea afterwards.

All the remedies helped reduce bad breath, but the most effective were the raw apples and lettuce.

Compared to cooked foods, the raw variety had a one-two punch, first by destroying the odours that contribute to bad breath, and then attacking ‘volatiles’ that help sustain it.

(Source: Journal of Food Science, 2016; doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.13439)

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