Scientists discover new way to get rid of garlic breath with everyday food

If you want to get rid of garlic breath then eating yoghurt is the best way to neutralise the smell, according to scientists. Research found that a protein present in whole-milk plain yoghurt snuffs out the sulphur-based compounds that cause the lingering smell.

It’s best eaten straight after your favourite garlicky meal for it to be effective. Researchers said that yoghurt’s use as a 'breath deodoriser' could soon be advertised along with its nutritional claims.

The study, published recently in the scientific journal Molecules, sought to investigate the rumour that yoghurt can combat garlic breath. Dr Sheryl Barringer, senior author of the study and a professor of food science and technology at Ohio State University in the United States, has previously investigated other foods to deduce whether they too can rid odours from the breath.

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Among the foods already shown to combat garlic breath are lettuce, apples, milk and - unsurprisingly - mint. Dr Barringer and Manpreet Kaur, a first author of the study and a PhD student in Dr Barringer's lab, placed equal amounts of raw garlic in glass bottles - ensuring the cluster of offending sulphur-based volatiles were released in concentrations that would be detected by the human nose.

They used the analytical tool of mass spectrometry to measure the levels of the volatile molecules in gaseous form which were present both before and after each treatment. The researchers found that yoghurt alone reduced nearly all (99%) of the major, odour-producing raw garlic