Why does my breath get bad after eating meat?

Ms. Xie, a reader from Heilongjiang, asked: I am 49 years old and suffer from superficial gastritis. After treatment, the symptoms have basically disappeared, except that I feel nauseous and have bad breath after eating meat. After taking pantoprazole, the bad breath is relieved. I also suffer from frequent constipation. When I take omeprazole, my bowel movements are normal, but I become constipated when I stop taking the medicine. What is going on?

Liu Yong, associate professor of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, answered: Bad breath after eating meat indicates indigestion. This type of people will have bad breath symptoms after eating meat, eggs, fried foods, high-fat foods, soup, and drinking alcohol. There are many reasons for indigestion, including fatty liver, gallstones, gallbladder polyps, cholecystitis, chronic pancreatitis, etc. Indigestion can cause abdominal bloating, reduced gastrointestinal motility, and prolonged gastric emptying time of gastric acid and pepsin, leading to constipation. The acid-suppressing drug pantoprazole can improve the above problems. This is why patients’ symptoms are relieved after taking pantoprazole. However, omeprazole only treats the symptoms of bad breath and not the root cause. Patients are advised to eat a light diet, not eat or eat less animal liver, nuts, greasy, fried food, drink less carbonated drinks; drink more water and less soup, especially oily soup; exercise moderately and do not stay up late. In addition, it is recommended to go to the hospital for liver and gallbladder ultrasound and pancreatic CT to rule out liver, gallbladder and pancreatic problems.