New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS): Have bad breath? You can stop embarrassing yourself by staying hydrated, eating vitamin C rich food items and drinking tea.

Nutritionist and weight management expert Amrapali Patil shares tips on how to keep your breath fresh:

* Water: Just swish and swirl some water in the mouth like gargling (but softly, not loudly) and drink it up or rinse it out. Hydration is one of the solutions as when you get dehydrated, the saliva generated in the mouth automatically decreases. Saliva tends to clean the mouth by diluting the bacteria. Bacteria and their by-products are responsible for that offensive bad breath.

* Vitamin C rich food items: Oranges, sweet lime, lemons, kiwis and all citrus fruits rich in the vitamin help in keeping the breath fresh. Vitamin C is known to fight bacteria.

* Apples: When we crunch on to an apple, salivary secretion gets stimulated. This literally bathes the mouth and rinses out the odour generating bacteria in the mouth thereby making the breath fresh.

* Cinnamon tea: It is helpful in keeping the mouth and breath fresh.