The Best Breath Mints for Keeping Your Cool
Because bad breath should be the least of your worries.
Bad breath can happen to the best of us. Especially after a particularly aromatic meal (garlic, we’re looking at you). But the problem needn’t linger at the table. While there’s no substitute for good oral hygiene, a trusty mint offers an easy, on-the-go solution that’s also handy for satisfying the occasional oral fixation. Choosing which mints to keep in your back pocket is a matter of taste. Are you a peppermint person? Eager to satisfy a sweet tooth? Want to pop mints all day without encouraging cavities? We have an option for every preference.
Maybe it’s the powerful peppermint-oil punch. Or that distinctive, reusable tin (we won’t ask what you reuse it for). But there’s a reason Altoids have been popular since the turn of the 19th century. Though the recipe has changed in recent years, these mints remain “curiously strong.”
The jury’s out on whether Life Savers count as breath mints or just plain candy, but one verdict is clear: These babies deliver great bang for your buck, especially when bought in bulk. It’s a good option, considering how addicting the darn things can be. Leave a bowl of them out in your home or office and see how quickly they vanish.
If you’re health-conscious, you know that popping back ordinary breath mints isn’t exactly the most nutritious habit. The work-around? These sugar- and aspartame-free breath mints, which rely on xylitol, a low-calorie, low-glycemic sweetener found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Xylitol doesn’t spike blood sugar or insulin levels (diabetics, rejoice!), staves off plaque buildup and tooth decay (your dentist will be proud), and helps with dry mouth. Oh, and it actually tastes good.
These cute, highly pocketable breath mints check all the good-food boxes: organic, non-GMO, vegan, kosher, gluten- and nut-free. Sweetened with cane sugar, tapioca syrup, and maple syrup—not instead of xylitol, which, though helpful for some, can cause digestive stress in others—the pastilles come in fun flavors like coffee, chai, and ginger, as well as traditional peppermint.
Okay, they’re not technically mints, but these instant-dissolve strips target rank odors at their source—killing 99 percent of the germs, as the Lysol claim goes, that cause bad breath. The taste is medicinal, nowhere near sweet, but gosh-darn it, these suckers work. just as, especially if you turn layering them on your tongue into a game you play with friends.
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