Bad breath on a low carb diet
Low carb diets such as the Atkins diet are becoming more and more popular because they have proven to be very effective for a lot of people towards reaching their weight loss goals. A low carb meal should be balanced with proteins, fat and vegetables low in carbohydrate. When following a ketogenic low carb diet, your meal plan should consist of about 20 grams of carbohydrates, be high in protein and high in fat.
Why can a low carb diet cause bad breath?
Our bodies can provide energy in two different ways, through carbohydrate metabolism or ketosis. When energy is provided through carbohydrate metabolism, carbohydrates are turned into glucose and delivered to the cells. Switching to a meal plan low in carbohydrates causes a change in the body’s metabolism from using sugar as a source of energy to using fat. When you are in ketosis, your liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketones. Excess ketones are turned into acetone and excreted in the urine and breath. This is what causes the bad breath, or maybe better classified as a different breath since it is not offensive.
Atkins didn’t notice this sweetish breath in his patients for years, possibly because he considered it a normal breath. Most likely this breath is only experienced during the induction phase of Atkins, how many grams of carbohydrates a person can eat before his/her metabolism switches from carbohydrate metabolism to ketosis is individual.
Bad breath cure
A very typical question from people on a low carb diet is if it is possible to get rid of the bad breath they experience when in ketosis. The most obvious cure would be to increase the amount of carbohydrates you eat until your body switches from ketosis to carbohydrate metabolism. Obviously this is not a good solution when you want to be in ketosis to loose weight. A good advice to lessen bad breath problems is drinking water and chewing parsley. If you drink more water you will go to the toilette more frequently, so more of the ketone bodies will leave your body with the urine.
Another advice is to use bad breath remedies. Personally I do not notice any bad breath while I am in ketosis, but my girlfriend sometimes complains about this breath. I was recommended to try this toothpaste and strips and my girlfriend says it makes my breath fresher.
In any case, the breath is a sign that your body is using fat as a source of energy, so I guess getting a flatter stomach makes it all worth it :-)