Coffee contains substances that inhibit halitosis.

Coffee contains substances that inhibit bad breath and may be used in mouthwash, breath fresheners and chewing gum in the future, according to a new study by Israeli scientists.

Professor Rosenberg, a breath expert at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said: "everyone thinks that coffee causes bad breath because when coffee is mixed with milk, it dehydrates inside the mouth and ferments to produce odorous substances." But he accidentally found in the experiment that coffee may suppress halitosis instead.

Rosenberg and his colleagues chose two Israeli-made coffee and a "Nestle" instant coffee and put them in a glass tube containing saliva, hoping to prove that coffee mixed with saliva produces a foul-smelling gas. Surprisingly, they found that coffee prevented the production of the gas, which in some experiments could be reduced by up to 90%.

The tongue, alveoli and other parts of the mouth are the "paradise" of dental plaque. This bacteria can produce volatile sulfur compounds that make the mouth smell. If you eat strong foods such as onions and garlic, bad breath will last for a long time, because the blood will absorb these food ingredients, then enter the lungs and exhale. Mouthwash and gum can only temporarily cover but not eliminate the odor, which will disappear only after the food is excreted from the body.

Rosenberg plans to separate this magical substance from coffee. "what we will use is not the original extract, but the active substance," he said. " This coffee extract can inhibit the formation of dental plaque and block the occurrence of halitosis from the source. It may replace mint, which can only cover breath, and become the basic ingredient of a new generation of mouthwash, breath freshener and chewing gum.