Why Does Brushing Make Food Taste Terrible?

Why does brushing your teeth ruin the taste of food you eat afterward? It's not about the mint taste interfering with your orange juice. In fact, it has to do with two chemicals in the paste, writes Daven Hiskey at Today I Found Out. Sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium lauryl ether sulfate help make toothpaste foam, which makes users feel like they're getting a good clean—something marketers know is important, one explains.

Sodium lauryl sulfate weakens your sweet taste receptors and rids your mouth of phospholipids, which themselves limit your sensitivity to bitter tastes. Thus, after brushing, you're more sensitive to bitterness and less sensitive to sweetness—making OJ taste unpleasant. You can avoid this effect if you can find toothpaste without sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium lauryl ether sulfate, Hiskey writes. Click for the full post. (More toothpaste stories.)