Peanut butter breath has little to recommend it

bad breath caused by peanut butter is instantly recognizable, and if you have it, you're likely to instantly put friends and co-workers off their lunch. However, peanut butter breath is not likely to disappear any time soon. More than 90 percent of Americans have eaten a jar of the halitosis-causing paste in the past year, according to the National Peanut Board's Consumer Attitudes Tracking Study.

The stuff shows up everywhere. A recent story on Salon described private eating binges in which the author ate whole jars of peanut butter with a spoon.

In LA Weekly, a review of a grilled cheese sandwich cookbook notes that one eccentric recipe puts peanut butter, bologna and pickles in the same sandwich. Talk about a sandwich you'd want to brush after eating.

Peanut butter is even in prison. Vince Neil, former lead singer of the 80s hair band Motley Crue, is reportedly subsisting on little more than peanut butter, Doritos and bologna sandwiches.

This food can do more than make peanut-scented breath an immediate reality. In the long run, peanut butter sticks to the teeth and can cause tooth decay and gingivitis.

To prevent bad breath caused by this beloved paste, individuals eating peanut butter may wish to rinse afterwards with a specialty breath freshener.