Why Dry Mouth Happens & How To Solve It
Over the last few years, the keto diet plan has stood out as a leading trend in the health and wellness world. The number of people using the ketogenic diet plan seems to increase massively with each passing day. That is to the extent that if by now, you do not know even one person who uses the diet plan, your case is quite an exception.
Generally, the ketogenic nutrition plan is about eating a significantly low amount of carbs compared to fats and proteins. If you have tried the diet trend like I, you have higher chances of experiencing an array of benefits, including fast loss of weight, reduced sugar thirst, and feeling more invigorated.
Despite all the benefits that come with keto, it is important to note that it also has its negative effects. It is common to come across different keto problems experienced by other people on social media and online platforms.
Dry Mouth
Having a dry mouth is a common side effect of using keto. Often a dry mouth comes in the company of athirst level upsurge and bad breath.
Some of the symptoms of a dry mouth may include:
Before we can look at how to solve the dry mouth problem, we are first going to look at what the condition is about and its cause.
Also referred to as cottonmouth or xerostomia, dry mouth is a condition that means you do not have adequate saliva to deliver a wet mouth because the production of saliva is inadequate, leading to a foul breath and thirstiness.
Note, though, that there are many other potential dry mouth triggers apart from keto. Some of the potential dry mouth causes and not related to a keto diet may include:
While having a dry mouth may not be a major health concern, there is still a need to fix the issue as soon as possible. That can help in avoiding the discomfort it brings when you are around people.
Fixing the dry mouth issue is necessary to eliminate awful breath and increase your ability for food tasting and chewing.
Since your mouth does not have enough saliva, there is a possibility of experiencing particular health issues such as a sore throat and tooth decay that can be avoided.
How Keto Leads To Dry Mouth
In the state of ketosis (mode of fat burning), your body is forced to speedily burn your fat with the ketones availed employed in supplying the fuel needs.
The process of fat burning can result in the alteration of the chemistry of your body, which can lead to a negative impact on the salivary glands. Salivary glands play a crucial role in your body in terms of saliva creation necessary for food digestion in the mouth.
Inadequate saliva problem is a result of your body not having a lot of carbohydrates supply constantly. Usually, when you consume diets packed with carbohydrates, the body is tasked with their conversion into glycogen. The body, at times, uses glycogen for energy production.
With every gram of glycogen stowed, your body stores about three to four grams of water. For that reason, when you adopt a keto diet, the body receives and stores less quantity of water.
The result is the production of less quantity of saliva than normal, which causes increased thirst and dry mouth.
Other causes of dry mouth when using a keto plan are:
1. Change In Insulin Levels
When you consume a diet rich in sugar and carbohydrates, the result is a rise in blood sugar. Consequently, insulin is released by the pancreas to help in combating your blood sugar rise with the triggering of your kidneys to preserve extra water.
Then again, ingesting a low carb diet means there is less increase in insulin levels, which allows the kidneys to retain a lesser amount of water. The result is that your body is left not properly hydrated.
2. Fasting-Induced Natriuresis
Natriuresis is a process involving sodium excretion via your urine. That process can happen or be triggered as a result of the restriction of carbohydrates intake to an amount lower than 60g a day.
During natriuresis, your kidneys release sodium, and your body tries to preserve the sodium, which also leads to the release of potassium. Both sodium and potassium are essential minerals carrying electrical charge to play a significant role in regulating body fluid.
When electrolytes are not available in the right amount managing the level of fluids becomes challenging, leading to dehydration. Dehydration causes dry mouth.
3. Inadequate Hydration
Since following a keto may lead to dehydration, that is why you have to properly hydrate your body, particularly after performing a workout. Your body loses water faster with a keto diet since there is faster depletion of glycogen reserves.
Whether you are following a keto diet plan or not, always ensure that you drink at least the recommended glasses of water every day.
4. Persistent Urination
It should be no surprise that you experience a lot of urination during the initial stages of ketosis. Urination is one of the top ways your body utilizes for the expulsion of extra ketones and fluids.
The disadvantage of persistent urination is that your body develops thirstiness. As a consequence, you experience dry mouth sensations and feel thirsty.
5. Deficiencies In Nutrients
Some of the common nutrients and vitamins vital for eliminating the dry mouth condition include:
•Omega-3’s
•Vitamins D, E, B6, B12, and C
The nutrients are necessary for the maintenance of the right salivary health. In one study conducted in Japan about 14 years ago about diet and mouth dryness in men, the result was that the people with deficiencies in the nutrients suffered from dry mouth.
As expected from the study, the people who had dry mouth conditions also were found not to be eating plenty of fish and vegetables.
In another research, omega-3 fatty acids were found to be instrumental in increasing the flow of salivary. On top, the researchers concluded that an inadequate intake of vitamin D could trigger salivary problems.
6. Increased Acetone Levels
Once your body reaches the keto condition, there is more production of acetone apart from Beta-hydroxybutyrate.
Acetone is usually expelled via urination and breathing. The breath may smell or taste metallic or fruity. When you drink plenty of fluids, often, acetone is eliminated through urination.
7. Medications
When using a drug together with a keto diet plan, it is best to remember a dry mouth is a leading side effect of most drugs. By performing just a simple online search on Google about the “side effects of drugs,” you will be presented with lists at least containing dry mouth.
Sometimes drugs may not directly lead to symptoms of dry mouth and instead can only have an effect.
8. Excess Proteins Consumption
Once you have adopted a keto diet plan, you are eating fewer carbs, and you may be consuming a lot of proteins unintentionally.
Since your body has extra protein intake, there is a breakdown and production of ammonia. The gas is usually discharged from the body via urine. Researchers have linked the breakdown of excess ammonia to cause mouth odor and dry mouth.
How to Check Your Levels of Ketones
When you benefit from the loss of fat, it points to the fact that your body has entered the ketosis state. When the levels of ketone are higher, one clear indicator is a foul breath.
So you must know how to check your ketone levels to deal with the results produced accordingly. The ketone testing options you have are:
7 Ways To Eliminate Dry Mouth When On Keto
1. Consume More Water
Through sweating and urination, your body loses a lot of water. The water loss process leads to your body deprivation of the much-needed water content for ensuring healthy body processes.
And when you are in the keto state, your body loses more water because of the frequent urination.
As per the NAM, women, and men should consume approximately 2.7 and 3.7 liters of water daily. The water consumed should mainly come from drinking water and food.
2. Maintain Healthy Oral Hygiene
Having a keto breath does not mean that you are dealing with an oral hygiene issue. However, when you are on a keto, and experiencing a bad breath, maintaining a healthy oral habit when you rinse your mouth can help alleviate the problem.
Rinsing your mouth helps in the triggering of the salivary glands. Nonetheless, when it comes to rinsing your mouth, it is advised that you should avoid the use of rinses containing alcohol content. Alcohol can cause a drying effect to worsen the condition further.
Another point to note is that only use toothpaste meant for dry mouth.
3. Use Sugar-Free Gum
Sugar-packed breath fresheners are known to have the ability to escalate carbs content in the body, which yields an increase in blood sugar and levels of insulin. Other products marketed as sugarless gum and mint options also often have the same effect. Check our favorite keto-friendly gums!
Only use keto-appropriate products to assist you in the elimination of dry mouth and unfriendly breath. Alternatively, you can use natural herbs and fresheners such as cinnamon and clove.
Our Favorite Xylitol Gum
- CINNAMON: This sugar free gum has a fiery rush of sweet and spicy cinnamon flavor that kicks sweet tooth cravings, fights dry mouth and freshens breath. Comes in a resealable package.
4. Use A Humidifier
Using a humidifier is useful in reducing dry mouth symptoms since there is the addition of more air moisture.
A humidifier can help offset an environment containing dry air so that you are not exposed to an environment promoting the dry mouth condition.
5. Avoid Eating Excess Protein
As I had already said, eating excess proteins leads to ammonia production, which promotes unfriendly breath and dry mouth. Avoid consuming a lot of proteins and instead strive to achieve the right healthy balance in protein and fats consumption.
6. Use Electrolyte Supplements
It may be hard to get all of your body hydration through water consumption. Another option is to use therapeutic electrolyte supplements like sodium for hydration maintenance.
7. Reduce Or Avoid Caffeine Consumption
Caffeine comes from different common sources, such as beverages.
Some studies have unearthed a close connection between reduced salivary flow levels and caffeine or carbonated drinks. The more you have caffeine in your body, the more you will become dehydrated.
Carbonated drinks and caffeine are also known contributors to tooth decay.
Final Thoughts
When in the keto condition, you can almost be sure of benefiting from significant changes in your body's fat composition. Of course, that is the intention of the keto diet, but the fact is also that we are not living in a perfect environment. For that reason, you can expect to experience other negative effects of this common diet plan, including dry mouth.
The good news for you, though, is that there are different ways of knowing if you have a keto-induced bad breath, and there are many ways for its elimination. So yeah, you should embrace the keto life without worrying about the potential of experiencing dry mouth as we have supplied you with the right solutions.
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