Bad breath is something we've all been confronted with and we're all more than intimately familiar with all the negative effects such a condition could have on everything from our work environment at the office to our love life. As a result, it's always good to learn that a new, effective remedy for bad breath has been identified and is making its way onto the market for our combined benefit and comfort. I'm talking about a traditional Chinese medicine that has been long known to excel in the germ-killing department - namely, magnolia bark extract.

Bad breath occurs due to poor oral hygiene. If you don't clean your teeth properly, food particles can get stuck in your mouth, allowing bacteria to grow between the teeth, around the gums, and on the tongue. Most of the strongly flavored mints and gums currently available on the market do nothing to kill the odor-causing bacteria, but rather mask bad breath. The magnolia bark extract has very low toxicity and virtually no side effects, which makes it an ideal ingredient for chewing gum or breath mints - and may just be the key component that will allow chewing gum to not just mask, but actually finish off the bacteria in our mouths.

Researchers from the giant chewing gum manufacturer Wrigley's tested the magnolia bark extract by adding the precious substance to cultures containing three types of oral micro-organisms. Researchers were surprised to see that the extract killed 99.9 % of the micro-organisms within approximately five minutes. Mints containing magnolia bark extract were proved to kill off over 60% of the germs responsible for causing bad breath within half an hour. A chewing gum containing the precious substance did the same, but over a lengthier interval of time. As a result, we'll be able to buy tree-bark chewing gum within a few short weeks, while the mints will be available later this year.