The Bad Breath Blog

The magnolia is one of the oldest flowering tree types in the world.  Magnolia bark contains polyphenols, which have been used for centuries by Chinese and Japanese medicine.  Now, the magnolia bark chemicals have been proven to get rid of bad breath.  Research printed in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that breath mints containing magnolia bark extract kill the majority of bacteria that cause tooth decay and bad breath within a half hour.  Magnolia bark extract significantly improves oral health around the world, and may be beneficial if used in chewing gum.

The mouth is an ideal environment for the bacteria that causes bad breath–especially four species of bacteria: Veilonella alcalescens, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Bacteroides melaninogenicus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.  These bacteria feed on food remains, dead cells, and other chemicals in the mouth, and in the process of their feeding, they release foul-smelling gases.  This putrefaction can lead to gum disease and tooth decay.

Regular chewing gum tends to only guard against these bacteria for a short period of time, and anti-bacterial products tend to have negative effects like tooth staining.  A team conducted a research project where they tested the power of a mint with and without the magnolia bark extract.  Without the extract, the mint destroyed just 3.6%  of the bacteria, and with the extract, 61% of the bacteria was killed. 

Furthermore, the extract has also been found to be useful for guarding against cavity-causing bacteria. 

Source: Softpedia

The advertising industry self-regulatory panel is demanding that Wrigley should change its advertising and packaging for Eclipse gum.  Specifically, they want the claims about Eclipse having a natural ingredient that kills the germs that cause halitosis (bad breath) to be removed.

An investigation was done by The National Advertising Division Council of Better Business Bureaus after a competing gum-making company, Cadbury Adams USA, challenged them.  This group analyzed the claims by Wrigley in advertisements for print and teleivision for a new version of Eclipse gum.  According to these ads, an ingredient called ‘magnolia bark extract’ kills the bacteria that causes bad breath while other types of gum soley mask bad breath.

The investigators found that the studies going into these claims might sound promising, but Wrigley’s claims in their advertisements overstated the results. 

Source: The Associated Press.  April 8, 2009.