Health Bulletin

Drink water to reduce bad breath

Drinking water helps to keep bad breath under control. Water hydrates the mouth and contains oxygen, and that helps deter the growth of bacteria. Water also stimulates saliva, which fights bacteria. It can also restore your mouth's pH levels and remove food particles stuck in your mouth.

Clinically known as halitosis, bad breath can be caused by heartburn, acid reflux, tonsilloliths or tonsil stones (calcified deposits of bacteria, food particles and dead cells that form in the crevasses of the tonsils).

Some serious causes of bad breath can include sinus infections, bronchitis, and problems with the liver and kidneys.

Food or drink is usually the main culprit. Odours from strong-smelling foods like onion and garlic or when food is digested and then processed through your bloodstream could be released from your lungs as you exhale.

Every mouth naturally has bacteria in it, each with its own combination of 100-200 types. In fact, scientists have identified about 1,000 types of bacteria that can inhabit a mouth and affect the way it smells.

When you eat, bacteria begin to process food, including the food particles left behind after your meal. And that creates odour and more bacteria.

A dry mouth is another cause of odour-creating bacteria. Saliva doesn't just keep your mouth hydrated, it also cleans out food and dead cells and fights the growth of bacteria. Because you don't produce as much saliva when you sleep, your mouth can dry out and create more bacteria, which causes morning breath. Consuming alcohol, smoking, some medications, and even coffee can also cause a dry mouth.

A mouth without bad breath has a balance of odour-causing and non-odour-causing bacteria. If odour-causing bacteria overruns other bacteria, then that person will have unpleasant-smelling breath.

More women altering menstruation cycles

A surprisingly large number of women 18 years or older choose to delay or skip monthly menstruation by deviating from the instructions of birth-control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a team of University of Oregon, United States, researchers and others found in a study of female students at the university.

Most women who alter bleeding cycles do so for convenience rather than to avoid menstrual symptoms and many learn about the option from non-medical sources, according to research by the university's Department of Human Physiology, Portland-based Oregon Health and Sciences University and Eastern Michigan University.

The study is published in Contraception, the official journal of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and the Society of Family Planning.

As research indicates that reducing the occurrence of menstruation is safe and can even be beneficial, women are increasingly using hormonal contraceptives to alter bleeding cycles.

In a survey of undergraduate and graduate students, 17 per cent reported altering their scheduled bleeding patterns by deviating from the instructions of hormonal contraceptives, which include birth-control pills, vaginal contraceptive rings, and transdermal contraceptive patches.

Half of these women reported that they did so for convenience or scheduling purposes, while others cited personal preference (28.9 per cent) or reducing menstrual symptoms (16.7 per cent).

Among the women who delayed or skipped a scheduled bleeding for convenience or personal choice, a comparatively large number - 53 per cent - indicated the knowledge was obtained from non-medical sources such as a family member or friend, researchers said.