Bad Breath Smells Like Rotten Eggs

Burping (belching) indicates expelling of the air or other gases from your stomach through your mouth. Many healthy people expel some non-smelling air after consuming or drinking. Numerous health conditions can causes extreme burping.

Bad Breath Smells Like Rotten Eggs

The smell of sulfur (sulphur) or rotten egg burps originates from hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gas stemming from sulfur-containing proteins in particular foods (see below) after they are broken down in the stomach or small intestine by sulfur-reducing microbes. These microorganisms might be normal intestinal tract bacteria or pathogenic bacteria.

Sulfur Containing Foods

Eliminating sulfur containing foods from the diet might decrease the odor of sulfur burps:

• Sulfur consisting of food preservatives, like guacamola, frequently used on dried fruits, salads in hotels, meat in
• lunch counter or in pre-prepared canned foods
• Poultry
• Red meats
• Eggs
• Dairy products, particularly milk
• Veggies: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, garlic, mustard, onions, pack choi, parsley, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, watercress, yams
• Legumes: beans, peas, lentils, soy, carob, jicama, alfalfa
• Fruits: avocado, bananas, watermelon
• Grains, nuts and seeds: corn, sunflower seeds, oats, cashews, walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, coconut.
• Tea and coffee
• Whey proteins
• Amino acids: cysteine, methionine
• Vitamins B1 (thiamine) and H (biotin)
• Particular medications may include sulfur (likewise examine labels for amino acids cysteine or methionine that contain sulfur)

Sulfur Reducing Microbes

Examples of sulfur reducing bacteria and some other microbes that can use sulfur compounds from the food and yield hydrogen sulfide as an end product:

• Helicobacter pylori, a germs causing chronic gastritis, stomach or duodenal ulcer, upper abdominal bloating, heartburn and burping. H. pylori is diagnosed by urea breath test; treatment is by antibiotics.
• Giardia lamblia, a one-cell parasite, usually contracted by food or water poisoning, causing diarrhea, bloating, foul smelling burps or farts. For medical diagnosis and treatment read about human digestive parasites.
• Digestive bacteria that become part of normal intestinal tract flora however can cause bloating, burping, flatulence or diarrhea when they overgrow; condition is called small intestinal tract bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). SIBO may be likewise present in lactose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. In specific illness like celiac disease or Crohn’s disease, foods may not be absorbed totally and can be therefore broken down by sulfur decreasing bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide.

Also read: Breath Smells Like Poop

How To Get Rid Of Sulfur Burps?

1. Eliminate as much as possible sulfur containing foods from your diet. This might lower sulfur smell of burps and gas in a day or more. After that, you will still have to discover the reason for belching or gas themselves.
2. If you suspect you may have celiac disease, besides the low-sulfur diet, attempt a gluten-free diet (no wheat, barley and rye). If your symptoms disappear or reduce significantly within a week or two, this speaks for celiac disease.
3. If you have history of peptic ulcer, stomach burning, stomach reflux and heartburn, visit a gastroenterologist and request for a breath test for Helycobacter pylori. This germs is a common reason for sulfur burps. Treatment is with 7 or 10 day course of antibiotics.
4. If you are bloated and have excessive foul smelling gas or loose stools with mucus, ask your doctor for a stool test for ova and parasites (O&P) since you might have infection with a parasite giardia. Treatment is with anti-parasitic drugs.
5. If you presume Crohn’s disease — symptoms include low grade temperature, nausea, fatigue, blood in the stool, diarrhea, bloating — go to gastroenterologist and ask for appropriate tests that may consist of colonoscopy.
6. If all above tests are negative, request breath test for small digestive tract bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
7. Gastric emptying test may expose slow stomach emptying (gastroparesis).
8. Some individuals with gallstones reported that sulfur burps disappeared after gallbladder elimination. Diagnosis of gallstones is with abdominal ultrasound or other gallbladder tests.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• To get rid of sulfur burps, often you just need to remove some particular food( s) rich in sulfur, for instance, Pina Colada, consisting of coconut cream.
• If you have sulfur burps but NOT sulfur gas (flatulence) the cause is probably in your stomach (H. pylori infection, gastroparesis). If you suffer from both sulfur burps and gas or just sulfur gas you may have small intestinal or gallbladder disorder.
• Pepto Bismol (bismuth subsalicylate), a popular antidiarrheal drug, binds hydrogen sulfide and removes it from the gastrointestinal tract therefore minimizing sulfur burps and gas. Pepto Bismol need to NOT be used in children, and no longer then 2-3 weeks in grownups. Pepto Bismol normally colors your tongue and stool black.