Good news about bad breath: Sweet magnolia stops the stink

Chemists have discovered a new weapon in the battle against bad breath — chewing gum or mints made from material found in the bark of the sweet magnolia tree. They may stop the stink better than any other breath mint or gum in the world.

Bad breath, or halitosis, has several causes. Adults often get it from eating food like garlic and onions, but germs that grow invisibly in the mouth are usually to blame for bad breath. These germs live on leftover bits of food that collect on your teeth, tongue, and gums. If you don't brush and floss regularly to remove the germs, they use your mouth like a toilet, excreting the waste products that result in smelly breath.

It kind of makes you want to brush, doesn't it?

Thankfully, scientists in Illinois report that breath mints made with magnolia bark extract kill the germs that cause bad breath and tooth decay in just 30 minutes.

In the new study, Minmin Tian and Michael Greenberg tested the germ-killing power of magnolia bark extract using saliva, or spit, samples taken from volunteers after a normal lunch. Without the extract, the mints killed less than four percent of the bacteria. But mints with the extract killed more than 61 percent of the bad breath bacteria within 30 minutes. That's over 15 times more than the regular mints!

The scientists found another anti-bacterial bonus — the mints and chewing gum with the extract fought cavity-causing bacteria, as well as those behind halitosis. Still, even when magnolia mints hit stores, the best way to win the battle against bad breath is to brush and floss daily.

We certainly need a better weapon for bad breath. The mouthwashes and other products sold today are far from perfect. Some even stain the teeth or have other unwanted effects. People often turn to flavored chewing gum and mints to battle bad breath. However, those products only temporarily hide the odor. Instead of killing the germs, mints and gum with sugar actually provide food for more germs to grow — and make more stink.

The sweet new study is in the Nov. 14, 2007 issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a magazine for scientists.

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The American Chemical Society — the world's largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

*The research in this press release is from a copyrighted publication, and stories must credit the journal by name or the American Chemical Society.

News media may obtain a full text of this report ("Compressed Mints and Chewing Gum Containing Magnolia Bark Extract Are Effective against Bacteria Responsible for Oral Malodor") in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, by contacting Michael Bernstein.