Question: Why do we smell after eating garlic?
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"Most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath", wrote Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It's garlic's potent flavour that has seen it become a culinary staple worldwide. Unfortunately, as Shakespeare implies, garlic's smell is as potent as its taste, and can linger on diners for days.
For thousands of years, however, many cultures have revered garlic for its medicinal and culinary properties. Garlic has been lauded for its ability to help prevent heart disease, certain types of cancer, and to regulate blood sugar. Research exists to support these claims. Garlic has also been shown to help prevent and fight the common cold. This is because garlic produces a range of sulphur-containing chemicals when crushed or chopped. When damaged, garlic releases enzymes (such as alliinase) from vacuoles, which catalyse breakdown of several sulphur-containing compounds.
One synthesised compound is allicin, an antibiotic, antifungal, strong-smelling compound shown to provide medicinal benefits. It's believed to produce raw garlic's hot taste. The antibiotic activity is garlic's defense mechanism. Allicin is highly reactive and will break down with cooking or time to produce a range of sulphur-containing compounds.
Mercaptans found in breath after eating garlic are thought to be a major smelly culprit. Allyl methyl sulphide (AMS) is the major offender that causes prolonged halitosis and pungent sweat.
When we metabolise garlic's sulphur-containing compounds, AMS forms. The liver and intestines cannot digest AMS, so it's absorbed into the bloodstream over several hours.
AMS then travels to the lungs and skin, giving a "garlicky" odour to breath and sweat. It's this time-consuming process that creates the long-term, whole-body smell after eating significant quantities of garlic. There's individual variation as to how much we smell after eating sulphur-containing compounds due to differences in saliva, pH, enzymes and metabolism.
Parsley may reduce the smell, and it's often included in garlicky cuisines (think tabouli and garlic bread).
Other leaves also work and may contribute to the Indian custom of chewing pan after a meal.
With dedicated fan-sites, 'Garlic is Life' symposiums, and worldwide use, I'm sure garlic (and unfortunately its smell) will probably linger for another few thousand years.
Response by: Emma Lawrance, Fuzzy Logic
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