Spicy ingredient in ginger worked against strong bad breath

Study: Ginger helps against bad breath

Ginger 6-Gingerol stimulates a salivary enzyme that breaks down malodorous substances. It provides fresh breath and a better aftertaste. This is what scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology have found in a recent study.

Many food ingredients directly contribute to the typical taste of food and drinks by their own taste, their fragrance or their sharpness, explain the experts. In addition, sometimes other biochemical mechanisms are set in motion. For example, the 6-gingerol in ginger triggers a conversion of the enzyme sulfhydryl oxidase 1, which in turn is considered to be the trigger for halitosis.

Ginger does not only relieve cold symptoms.
The tuber has antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic and helps against many diseases. Now, a study showed that ginger helps even with bad breath. (Image: baibaz / fotolia.com)

To find out more about food ingredients, a team from the Technische Universität München (TUM) and the Leibniz Institute of Food Systems Biology investigated their effects on the molecules dissolved in saliva.

Many food ingredients directly contribute to the typical taste of food and drinks by their own taste, their fragrance or their sharpness. But they also indirectly influence our sense of taste through other, still largely unknown, biochemical mechanisms.

6-Gingerol provides fresh breath

As shown by the results of this study, the sharp-tasting 6-gingerol contained in the ginger increases the level of the enzyme sulfhydryl oxidase 1 in saliva by 16-fold within a few seconds. Salivary and respiratory analyzes have shown that the enzyme degrades malodorous sulfur-containing compounds. In this way, it is able to lessen the long-lasting aftertaste of many foods, such as coffee.

Citric acid reduces our sense of salt

Citric acid, on the other hand, influences our perception of taste through a completely different mechanism, according to the study. As everyone knows from their own experience, acidic foods such as the juice of lemons stimulate salivation. In proportion to the amount of saliva, the amount of minerals dissolved in the saliva also increases.

The sodium ion level increases rapidly after stimulation with citric acid by about eleven times. This effect then makes us less sensitive to saline. More about the study can be found here. (Pm)