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[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"39444","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","alt":"Why does my breakfast taste funny after I brush my teeth?"}}]] Beeeeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeep! It’s 6:00 a.m., and your alarm is going off. You spring (or slowly crawl) out of bed and into the bathroom to brush your teeth. You finish getting ready for the day and then head into the kitchen. Your breakfast smells good. It looks good. But GROSS! It doesn’t taste good. Why does your breakfast taste funny after you brush your teeth? We answer this question with help from mental_floss.
The breakfast ruining culprit: sodium laureth sulfate (SLS).
Depending on your favorite brand of toothpaste, sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) might also be to blame. These chemicals are the surfactants that make toothpaste foam by lowering the surface tension of the liquid.
As we brush our teeth and our mouths begin to fill with foam, our taste buds become affected by the SLES or SLS as well.
According to mental_floss, these chemicals “suppress the receptors on our taste buds that perceive sweetness, inhibiting our ability to pick up the sweet notes of food and drink. And, as if that wasn't enough, they break up the phospholipids on our tongue. These fatty molecules inhibit our receptors for bitterness and keep bitter tastes from overwhelming us, but when they're broken down by the surfactants in toothpaste, bitter tastes get enhanced.”
So thanks to these chemicals, that delicious breakfast now tastes less sweet and more bitter, and not nearly as delicious as it smells.
Tomorrow morning, wait a little longer after you brush your teeth to eat or eat breakfast before you clean your chompers.
Looking for more Never Stop Asking "Why?" questions? Catch up on all of the past "Whys" on the blog!
