2025.04.27

Worried About Bad Breath After Drinking Alcohol?

 

Are you concerned about bad breath after drinking alcohol?

 

It can be disheartening when family members tell you, “You smell!” Is there a way to drink alcohol with less risk of causing bad breath?

 

Causes of Bad Breath After Drinking

Interestingly, the cause of bad breath after drinking is not the alcohol itself. So what causes it? It’s actually other components in alcoholic beverages, such as amino acids and malic acid, which contribute to the flavor.

For example, after drinking sake, you might notice a smell similar to “overripe persimmons.” Sake contains a high amount of amino acids. Similarly, wine can also cause bad breath, as it contains malic acid and other components.

 

When drinking brewed beverages like sake or wine, alcohol itself is quickly absorbed and metabolized, but amino acids and malic acid remain longer in the bloodstream before being broken down. These unprocessed components circulating in the blood are what cause bad breath.

 

Therefore, when drinking distilled spirits like whiskey or shochu, which are higher in alcohol purity and have fewer non-alcoholic components, bad breath is much less noticeable.

 

Metabolism and Alcohol-Related Bad Breath

In short, bad breath isn’t just a problem localized to the mouth. As discussed, it also originates from the bloodstream. If you can speed up the metabolism of components like amino acids, you can reduce bad breath.

 

For example, supplements like SUPALIV and Twendee X are known to enhance the metabolism of fats, sugars, and proteins, which helps minimize bad breath.

 

There is an example of someone who drank SUPALIV while eating yakiniku (grilled meat with garlic) and drinking sake. Upon returning home, their family commented, “Oh! There’s no smell of yakiniku tonight!” and “No garlic smell either!” It seems that SUPALIV helped rapidly metabolize substances like aniline (responsible for garlic odor), reducing the resulting bad breath.

 

This shows that how quickly you metabolize odor-causing compounds in the blood is key to preventing bad breath.

 

In Conclusion

If you’re concerned about bad breath when drinking alcohol, choosing distilled spirits can help minimize the problem.

However, there are times when you may want to enjoy wine at a stylish Italian or French restaurant, or savor sake at a traditional Japanese dining experience. In such cases, taking supplements that help accelerate protein metabolism before drinking is a recommended strategy.