One of the common side effects of starting a ketogenic diet is keto breath. Keto breath, also called ketosis breath, is an unwanted side effect of reducing carbohydrates in your diet. The good news is that you can get rid of keto breath with a few helpful tips.
Understanding Keto Breath
When you drastically reduce your carbohydrate intake, your body undergoes a series of changes. This reduction leads to the depletion of your glycogen levels. (Glycogen is made up of glucose molecules coming from carb-containing foods.) When this happens, you start breaking down fatty acids, which then get converted to ketone bodies. One of these ketones is acetone, and it exits your body via your breath, causing keto breath.
What Does Keto Breath Smell Like?
You’ll notice your breath smelling fruity or like nail polish remover. This indicates the presence of acetone, which is one of the ketone bodies produced by your liver from fat breakdown. Along with this fruity or acetone-like smell, you may notice that your mouth tastes metallic. Kathleen Navarro, RDH, DMD, and consultant for Mom Loves Best, notes that people may also experience dry mouth.
Keto Breath vs. Ketoacidosis
Important: Note that for individuals with poorly managed type 1 or type 2 diabetes, keto breath can be a sign of very high ketone levels, and this increases their risk of ketoacidosis.
How Long Does Keto Breath Last?
Keto breath starts within a few days of doing the keto diet. As long as you continue reducing carbs and maintaining a high fat intake, your body successfully adapts to your new diet. Keto adaptation (also called fat-adaptation) occurs at least 4 weeks or a month after reaching and maintaining ketosis. Generally speaking, you don’t have to worry about keto breath because it eventually goes away. When your body becomes more effective at using ketones as its energy source, you breathe out fewer ketones.
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Keto breath typically lasts between a week and a month and will eventually subside. However, it will return if you go on and off the diet. The duration of keto breath is temporary. It normally emerges after a few days to a week of starting the keto diet and lasts for many weeks to a few months.
Effective Strategies to Combat Keto Breath
There’s no need to quit a keto diet and revert to your old carb habits. Thankfully, there are natural remedies that mask keto breath smell. Combating Keto Breath involves several strategies, including maintaining good oral hygiene, staying hydrated, and making dietary adjustments.
Oral Hygiene Practices
Daily habits like brushing your teeth twice daily and flossing between your teeth once daily help to reduce bad breath. Brush at least twice a day. Clean between your teeth with interdental brushes or water flossers at least once a day. Always rinse your mouth with water after every meal and brush your teeth two times a day. Floss your teeth at least one time a day. Decay, plaque buildup, food particles, and tooth and gum diseases can cause foul breath.
If you’re scheduled for a dental checkup, this would also be a good opportunity to check for other dental causes of bad smelling breath, such as cavities. At Swish Dental we are always here to promote you and your smile. From General Dentistry, Family Dentistry, Cosmetic Dentistry, to Invisalign and Sleep Apnea Treatment, making you smile is what makes us smile.
Hydration
Another method to reduce ketones smell on breath is by drinking more water. Just keep in mind to avoid overhydration. Chugging water all the time can throw off your electrolyte levels. Staying hydrated with water should be at the top of any list of how to get rid of keto breath. Don't Forget Water The human body will stop producing saliva when you don’t eat, and when partaking in the keto diet you naturally start to lose your appetite and eat less. As your appetite decreases the saliva in your mouth will lessen as well. Drinking a sufficient amount of water will help prevent bacteria from building up in your mouth which will help avoid the unpleasant smell. As water is greatly important to the body in general it is always important to stay well hydrated. Fill a water bottle and sip throughout the day. Add fresh herbs to water and tea.
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Dietary Adjustments
When you’re consuming high amounts of protein at the start of your keto journey, bad breath can occur. You can slightly decrease your protein intake and focus on consuming more fat. Eating extra fat can help reduce ketone stinkers, such as ammonia and acetone. Adjust your intake of complex carbohydrates, such as leafy green vegetables and whole grains, while continuing to avoid refined carbs.
Natural Remedies
Lemon has anti-bacterial properties that can get rid of smelly breath. Make lemon mouthwash by adding three drops of lemon essential oil to water and swish the mixture around in your mouth for 30 seconds. Alternatively, you may sip lemon water throughout the day.
Other Helpful Tips
Sugar-free gum can help mask your breath without adding too many calories in your diet. Chewing gum while your body tries to adapt to a low-carb diet will help reduce feelings of hunger. Sugarless gum and mints will not eradicate keto breath, but they will help hide it. This helps restore the mouth's pH equilibrium, lowering the risk of tooth decay. Another easy thing to do is to chew gum that is sugarless. If you want to boost the advantages, use sugarless keto breath mints or chewing gums containing xylitol.
Mouthwash and Keto Breath
The whole point of mouthwash is to give you a solid rinse while leaving minty fresh breath in its wake. What a mouthwash does, Cho explains, is rinse out your mouth and form a coating on your teeth and gums to help give you that minty-fresh breath.
SmartMouth Mouthwash
SmartMouth says online that the mouthwash "clears away sulfur-producing germs" with two rinses a day (one in the morning and one at night). Prescription strength zinc ion technology helps ward off bad breath. According to reviews, SmartMouth "works way better and lasts way longer than any of the others I’ve tried!" They added, "when I was on the keto diet, I had really bad 'keto breath.' SmartMouth put a complete end to that! It worked almost immediately."
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A fellow fan said SmartMouth "works way better and lasts way longer than any of the others I’ve tried!" They added, "when I was on the keto diet, I had really bad 'keto breath.' SmartMouth put a complete end to that! It worked almost immediately."
Considerations when using mouthwash
Cho says it might be possible for a mouthwash to keep your breath fresh for 12 hours at a time, but only if you're not eating during that period or drinking known breath-tanking beverages like coffee. "A nighttime mouthwash may minimize morning breath," Cho says. "However, if you are a mouth breather at night, most likely not."
It would be tough for a mouthwash to completely eliminate bad breath all night, though, cosmetic dentist Dr. Brian Kantor of Lowenberg, Lituchy & Kantor in New York City, tells Yahoo Life. "When you sleep, your mouth dries out,"he says. "When your mouth dries out, odor-producing bacteria proliferate." And that, he points out, usually leads to stinky breath.
Alcohol-Free Mouthwash
Using a mouthwash without alcohol will help avoid the drying effect that mouthwash with alcohol tends to have. The mouthwash is alcohol-free, which dentists say is a pro.
The Importance of Sticking to the Keto Diet
The real key to overcoming keto breath is by sticking to the keto diet. Like with staying on any diet, you can do the same for keto by clearing out carb-rich and sugary foods from your fridge, planning your keto meals in advance, and keeping healthy snacks on hand.
Gradual Adaptation
Pace Yourself Gradually work on cutting carbs out of your diet rather than diving in head first. This allows your body time to adjust to the changes that come along with the diet. Sometimes if you slowly acclimate to the keto diet you can avoid keto breath altogether.
Additional Tips for Managing Keto Breath
Managing Stress
Don’t Stress It is common knowledge that stress can drastically impact many aspects of one’s health by itself but also while doing the keto diet. Stress can decrease one’s saliva output and can also slow the digestion of proteins. Acid reflux is also known to be aided by stress and can cause bad breath as well. Find ways to reduce stress, such as exercise, and that can help minimize stress and maximize the results of the diet as well.
Oil Pulling
Employ oil pulling with coconut oil in addition to brushing, flossing, and scraping your tongue with a scraper. Oil pulling involves swirling oil in your mouth, which helps remove bacteria, leading to good oral hygiene and bright teeth. Oil pulling is usually done for five minutes two or three times each day.
The Keto Diet: Benefits and Drawbacks
While a desire to achieve better physical and mental health is important, it is also important to not neglect one's oral health.The keto diet is currently a diet of choice for many which in short consists of high fat, adequate protein and low carbohydrate intake. One big "no no" while doing the keto diet is sugar. Minimal sugar in any diet will have any dentist jumping for joy because that will help decrease the bacteria in the mouth which is better for your teeth and gums.
According to a review of studies on the keto diet in the journal StatPearls, before the introduction of antiepileptic agents into the medical field, the keto diet was used to help children who had epilepsy. Now, it's used to lose weight fast and has shown to be effective. According to an article published by Harvard Health Publishing, the keto diet encourages low carb intake and eating large amounts of saturated fat in the form of butter, lard, and oils. Harvard Health Publishing recommends that your saturated fat intake not exceed 7% of your daily calories.
While it's true that a keto diet may offer benefits for your weight and overall health, it has drawbacks as well.