Banal household items
These simple tricks help against the garlic flag – really!
If you love garlic, you don’t have to stink to others.
© Wako Megumi / Getty Images
Anyone who has struggled with the annoying smell of garlic in the past can take a deep breath. American scientists have found a simple remedy against the garlic flag.
There is hardly a tuber that is loved as much as it is hated. We’re talking about garlic. If it still tastes excellent in a strong garlic sauce (Aglio Olio) with pasta in the evening, the garlic flag can become a nuisance the next day. Especially for colleagues in the office or the dentist. This is exactly why many people do without the actually delicious garlic during the week. Not to forget: Garlic is also useful from a medical point of view. Eating garlic is good for your health: it has a disinfecting effect and keeps blood, heart and blood vessels healthy.
Again and again there are miracle pills or hip drinks that have declared war on the smell of garlic. Their effect has not been scientifically confirmed.
Banal household items help against the garlic flag
American scientists want to have found a remedy that reduces the unwanted garlic trail and even makes it disappear completely. Anyone who thinks that horrendous amounts have to be spent on the remedy is wrong. Because the garlic smell killer can be found in every well-stocked household or in its fridge: lettuce and apple.
It sounds so trite, but the study published in the Journal of Food Science proves it. Subjects had to chew on three grams of garlic for 25 seconds, after which they were given a variety of liquids and foods: raw apple, apple juice, cooked apple, raw or cooked lettuce, raw mint leaves, mint leaf juice, and green tea. The researchers then measured the traces of garlic in the breath.
The result? Raw apple and also raw lettuce reduced garlic odor by 50 percent. The mint worked even better. Apple juice and mint juice reduced the plume, but not as effectively as chewing raw apple or fresh mint leaves. The heated components were also a garlic inhibitor. Green tea, on the other hand, had no effect.
The researchers explain the result as follows: the enzymes in raw food first help to neutralize the odor, then phenols take action, destroying the volatile compounds in garlic. According to these findings, nobody has to refrain from enjoying garlic during the week.