Talk Cancer

Question:

I’ve been low carbing for a while now.  And one effect of low carb that I’ve read about is bad breath.  I’ve NEVER had that problem. Seems to me that the bad breath and other "side effects" of low carb are being exaggerated by the main stream doctors.  Anyone agree with me on this?

Response:

"none90810" wrote… I’ve been low carbing for a while now.  And one effect of low carb that I’ve read about is bad breath.  I’ve NEVER had that problem. Seems to me that the bad breath and other "side effects" of low carb are being exaggerated by the main stream doctors.  Anyone agree with me on this?

To an extent, yes, I agree with you.  I have five friends who do LC as well as myself, and of the five two sometimes have the ‘ketone’ breath described by Atkins in his book – a sweetish smell, rather like watered down nail polish remover.  This is unusual, but it’s actually not unpleasant.  At least, I don’t think so but YMMV.  One occasionally has the ‘ammonia’ bad breath Jenny describes as being a by-product of too much protein, which is actually (I think) a completely different smell – I may be in the unusual position of being able to compare but I wonder if anyone else is and what they think.  Another simply has bad teeth, and will not go to a dentist (believe me, we’ve discussed it with her at length) she’s terrified of dentists and there the matter rests.  The final one has the same breath she’s always had, no better or worse than anyone else.  Virtually everyone, whether they know it or not, occasionally has ‘bad’ breath.  As for me, none of my friends have ever said, and I do my best to follow scrupulous mouth hygiene and watch my protein intake carefully, just in case. The worst bad breath I’ve ever encountered on anyone was a colleague I used to work with years ago, and he, poor man, couldn’t help it; it made his life a misery.  The ‘bad breath’ he had was actually the result of some kind of stomach disorder, and he was due for an operation for it which kept on getting put off because of his various other health problems.  He really did his best – he cleaned his teeth more than any person I’ve ever met before or since – but it didn’t seem to make much difference.  So when I meet someone with really appalling breath, I always wonder if they have the same problem as my late colleague.  (Yes, I mean late as in dead.) And come to think of it, my late father, when he was dying of pancreatic cancer had ‘bad breath’ but that again was a different smell, and one I don’t think I will ever mistake for anything else. — Lexin www.redrosepress.co.uk www.livejournal.com/~lexin LC since 9 June 2003 (300/270/182)

Response:

The worst bad breath I’ve ever encountered on anyone was a colleague I used to work with years ago, and he, poor man, couldn’t help it; it made his life a misery.  The ‘bad breath’ he had was actually the result of some kind of stomach disorder…

It can also come with bariatric ("stomach bypass") surgery.  Breath can smell like feces.  I knew someone with it and omigod. Barb

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