Sweets Can Lead To Bad Breath

Most people, me included, have a sweet tooth. So we like to indulge in sweets every now and then -- like candy, cookies, cake, and ice cream.

Problem is -- sweets can lead to bad breath. Our mouth is filled with bacteria that produce odor. And these bacteria love anything with sugar.

That's why breath mints are not effective if they have any kind of sugar. They mask the bad breath odor very briefly, but then the bacteria feed on the sugar and -- voila -- more abundant odor.

My favorite sweet is anything with chocolate. Did you know that each year, on average, each person in America eats 26 pounds of chocolate!

While most chocolate you find in cookies and candy can be bad for your teeth, your health, and your breath -- dark chocolate has some redeeming value. The higher the cocoa content in the chocolate, the healthier it is for you.

That's because very dark chocolate contains antioxidants.

You probably know what happens when you cut open and apple and leave it out. It starts turning brown. That's caused by oxygen and the process of turning brown is called oxidation.

Well, something like that is going on inside our bodies at the cellular level every day. This oxidation can lead to serious health problems if not offset by antioxidants. That's why we need to eat lots of fruits and vegetables...and even dark chocolate...because they contains lots of antioxidants that help us stay healthy.

So, a word of advice. Ease off on sweets if you want a fresher smelling breath. But if you have a strong hankering for something sweet, try dark chocolate instead. You can usually find dark chocolate at your grocery store. Even WalMart sells it. But again, look for a high cocoa content of 70 or better.

Until next time...