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This Livestrong article - Does Parsley Help With Bad Breath? suggests that parsley can improve bad breath.

The article suggests that bad breath is caused often by poor oral hygiene, allowing bacteria to metabolise food particles and produce sulphur compounds which smell bad. This is the established scientific status-quo, however it does not mention that parsley has any antibacterial properties. The benefits are claimed to be due to chlorophyll and I quote:

This substance has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and helps to neutralize toxins and pollutants you ingest daily.

However, some bad breath tablets contain parsley seed oil suggesting it isn't universally believed to be the chlorophyll that helps.

Does anyone know of any research to support this?

Sklivvz
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Simon Khoury
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1 Answers1

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From (O'Connor 2009):

[R]esearchers who have looked into this particular folk remedy have found little evidence that it works.

[...]

There is little evidence that parsley can counteract bad breath.

(O'Connor 2009) references (Lodhia 2008), which says:

[P]arsley-seed oil product did not reduce the concentration of volatile sulfur compounds in mouth air at any time.

[N]o significant deodorant activity of mints, chewing gum or parsley-seed oil product were observed.

The results in this study showed no effect of [parsley-seed oil] products in reducing oral malodor.

References

Lodhia, Parth, Ken Yaegaki, Ali Khakbaznejad, Toshio Imai, Tsutomu Sato, Tomoko Tanaka, Takatoshi Murata, and Takeshi Kamoda. "Effect of green tea on volatile sulfur compounds in mouth air." Journal of nutritional science and vitaminology 54, no. 1 (2008): 89-94.

O'Connor, Anahad. The Claim: Eating Parsley Can Eliminate Bad Breath. The New York Times. April 27, 2009.

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