Waking Up With a Dry Mouth? Your Dinner Might Be to Blame 🍰

Something I noticed when I shifted to a lower-carbohydrate diet (I am talking lower simple carbs here; I still eat plenty of vegetables, especially the non-starchy versions 🥦) was that my mouth felt different – less dry, especially at night 🌙. I put it down to metabolic changes in my body, maybe less insulin resistance.

Then I decided to do some more research 🔬. After all, a healthy mouth is the gateway to a healthy digestive system; a canary in a coal mine, if you will 🐤

So here are some of the reasons why reducing simple carbs, like sugars, might affect your mouth 👇

💧 Osmosis effect. Sweet foods like cakes, lollies and alcoholic drinks quickly increase the concentration of sugar in your mouth. This may create an osmotic imbalance, drawing water out of your mouth tissue to try and dilute the sugars. Your saliva can then become sticky and lose some of its fluidity, giving you that “cotton mouth” feeling.

📈 Blood sugar spikes. A big feed of chips followed by chocolate cake drives your blood sugar levels up, and your body responds by trying to dilute the glucose in your blood, drawing water from wherever it can, including your salivary glands. This can lead to an abrupt drop in moisture in your mouth. This is especially true if your blood sugar control isn’t good to begin with.

🔥 Inflammation. Sugary foods can drive an inflammatory response after digestion. Pro-inflammatory cytokines increase, which may temporarily reduce blood flow to your salivary glands.

🍫 Chewing mechanics. Saliva is stimulated by chewing and, let’s face it, chocolate cake is not a difficult chew, so there won’t be much saliva production!

🩸 Insulin resistance. This is the one I suspected from the start. When your cells stop responding properly to insulin, your body has to work harder to keep your blood sugar in control, and your salivary glands are affected too. Insulin resistance, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes have all been linked with lower saliva flow and more dry mouth. Over time, higher blood sugar can damage the tiny blood vessels and nerves that tell your salivary glands to do their job. Cutting back on simple carbs is one of the best ways to improve insulin sensitivity. So if your mouth feels better after a few weeks, it could mean your metabolism is heading in the right direction (yay! 🎉).

🦠 A balanced oral microbiome. Sugar is the favourite food of the bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease. These bacteria turn sugars into acids and sticky plaque, which is what gives you that furry, dry feeling.

😴 Better sleep and less mouth breathing. Now this is an interesting one – any open-mouthed snorers out there? 🙋 A dry mouth at night can be caused by breathing through your mouth or snoring. Losing weight, especially around the neck and torso, can help you breathe through your nose, reducing snoring and sleep apnoea.

🍷 Less alcohol. Alcohol makes you pee more and dries out your mouth, so fewer drinks are great for your oral health, and metabolic health, and liver health, and, and, and…

So, the moral of the story is pay attention to your mouth 👄; it may be telling you more than you think. If your mouth feels better when you cut back on carbs, that’s a good sign that your insides are improving too 💚