Have you recently embarked on a low carb diet? Noticed a sudden change in your breath from ‘not bad’ to ‘really rank’?!

Well, it might surprise you to learn that there’s actually a link between low carb diets and bad breath.

Low carb eating plans such as the Atkins and South Beach Diets typically work by restricting the amount of carbohydrates a person can eat. Instead, people on these types of diets tend to eat more foods containing protein.

Carbohydrates are the fuel that give our bodies energy, but when we don’t have sufficient stores to use our bodies begin to burn fat stores – a process known as ketosis.

When your body’s in a state of ketosis it uses up far more water than it would normally require and this can leave you quite dehydrated. This dehydration in turn leads to less saliva in your mouth thereby creating the ideal breeding ground for oral bacteria, which are the most common cause of halitosis in the majority of people.

In addition, there are certain things that can aggravate these bacteria which are responsible for bad breath when present in unusually high amounts.

Eating lots of protein is one such factor. These bacteria in your mouth play an important role in breaking down proteins in the foods you eat. During this process they give off sulphur compounds which are normally relatively unnoticeable, but when lots of compounds are released bad breath is a common occurence.

So, if you eat a higher than normal amount of protein, more sulphur compounds are given off, increasing the likelihood of your breath smelling foul.

To learn more about the link between low carb diets and bad breath and what to do about it, you might find this other article helpful.