You finish the meal, brush your teeth, chew some gum and somehow, the garlic is still there.
That isn't just your imagination. Garlic contains sulfur compounds that can continue to affect your breath long after you've finished eating. One Italian garlic enthusiast recently took things to an extreme. Luca Scainelli ate two whole heads of roasted garlic and then had people check his breath at regular intervals. He reported that the odor remained detectable for 60 hours.
That's an unusually dramatic example. But researchers at Ohio State University have spent years testing a much more practical question: what can you eat after garlic to actually reduce the smell?
An apple may do more than freshen your mouth
The good news is that you don't necessarily need a special mouthwash. A 2016 study found that several ordinary foods could reduce the sulfur compounds responsible for garlic breath.
In the study, people ate raw garlic and then consumed different foods and drinks. Their breath was measured for the following hour.
An apple, raw lettuce and fresh mint all reduced the garlic compounds measured in the breath. Apple and lettuce cut some of them by more than half during the first 30 minutes, while fresh mint performed even better.
There was a catch: the form of the food mattered. Juiced apple and mint were less effective than eating the fresh food itself, suggesting that simply drinking a fruit or vegetable juice isn't quite the same thing.
Why does raw food work?
The researchers think part of the answer comes from enzymes and phenolic compounds found in certain raw fruits and vegetables.
You don't need to remember the chemistry, though. The practical takeaway is much simpler: if you've just eaten a lot of garlic, a raw apple, some lettuce or fresh mint may help reduce the smell.
And it may be worth eating the food rather than turning it into a drink.
Milk can help too
Milk is another surprisingly useful option.
An earlier study by the same research group found that both skim and whole milk reduced garlic-related odor compounds. Whole milk was particularly effective against some of the compounds that dissolve more easily in fat.
The researchers also found that drinking milk with the garlic, rather than waiting until afterward, worked better.
That makes sense as a practical tip if you're having a particularly garlicky meal. A glass of milk alongside dinner may be more useful than waiting until you're already worrying about your breath.
What about yogurt?
Yogurt is promising too, although the evidence is a little different.
In a 2023 Ohio State study, researchers tested whole-milk plain yogurt in the laboratory and found that it reduced almost all of the major odor-producing compounds released from raw garlic.
But there's an important limitation: that experiment was performed in the lab, not by measuring garlic breath in people. The researchers said human testing would be needed to confirm whether the same effect happens after eating garlic.
So yogurt is an interesting option, but it's too early to treat it as a proven garlic-breath cure.
The easiest way to deal with garlic breath
You don't have to give up garlic or carry mouthwash everywhere.
If you're having a meal that's heavy on garlic, eating some fresh mint or having milk alongside it may help. After the meal, try a raw apple or some crisp lettuce.
And don't expect any of them to erase the smell instantly. The studies measured reductions in garlic compounds over a relatively short period, rather than proving that the foods completely eliminate garlic breath.
Still, the next time garlic bread, aioli or a heavily seasoned pasta leaves you wondering whether everyone in the room can smell it too, an apple from the kitchen may be worth reaching for before another stick of gum.