Yogurt has been proven to reduce the strong odors found in raw and fried garlic, according to a recent study. Credit: Ben Latham | Lantern Reporter
That something spooky on your breath might finally have a solution.
New research at Ohio State suggests that yogurt may be effective at eliminating those nasty garlic odors from your breath. A series of tests revealed yogurt reduces raw garlic’s volatile sulfur compounds that provide its strong odor by 99 percent and the compounds in fried garlic by roughly 82-94 percent.
Sheryl Barringer — a professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology — said researchers started looking at yogurt because it contains water, protein and fat. After previously discovering that apples can have a similar deodorizing effect on garlic due to their enzymes, she said she was intrigued by yogurt as another possible candidate and decided to put it to the test.
“This was our chance to look at those three components as far as how well each of them creates deodorization,” Barringer said.
After testing yogurt’s protein, water and fat components individually, it was determined that the proteins and butter fat were more effective at reducing garlic’s volatile compounds than water.
Despite butter fat’s effectiveness, Barringer said it may not be the best route to take when thinking about eating foods that act as a deodorizer.
“Encouraging somebody to eat a lot of fat generally isn’t going to go over well,” Barringer said.
Different forms of milk, whey and casein proteins found in yogurt were studied — all of which were effective due to their ability to trap volatile sulfur compounds before they escaped into the air. According to the study’s results, a casein micelle-whey protein complex was the most effective.
Manpreet Kaur, a Ph.D student who worked with Barringer on the study, said the most exciting part of the study’s findings was the effects of yogurt’s proteins.
“Along with other health benefits, proteins also have this thing where it can deodorize garlic breath,” Kaur said.
Barringer said she was a little bit surprised when she found that yogurt could be another effective deodorizer of garlic.
“Generally, it’s considered a negative when you’re dealing with a high-protein food that binds up some of the flavor and doesn’t taste as good,” Barringer said. “But in this case, it turned out to be a positive because it binds up the garlic and makes the unpleasant odors go away.”
With human breath tests on the way, Barringer said her findings could lead to the development of a high-protein food that could be consumed to prevent garlic breath, especially since more people are starting to prioritize protein in their diets.
“As we keep going, and we understand the mechanisms, it could be chewing gum, mouthwash or a protein-covered raisin that would be a great breath deodorizer that you could develop going forward,” Barringer said.
