Odd Health Advice

I happened to be looking at the little display screens in the elevator recently and noticed that instead of news items it was offering me a health advice tip. The tip was something like: “Don’t have any gum? Chew a piece of lemon or orange rind to freshen your breath.” I stared.

Now, I’m sure this works. I’ve never tried it, but I have no reason to believe that chewing a piece of lemon or orange rind wouldn’t freshen my breath.

However, I was trying to imagine how common it was to have a piece of lemon or orange rind handy. Do other people frequently carry these around in their pockets? Do they keep a bag of these lying around at home? Are there complimentary bowls of lemon and/or orange rinds sitting out in public places that I have yet to notice?

Frankly, my access to lemon or orange rinds is pretty much limited to the few times I’m having a meal or snack that involved an orange or a lemon. It’s not that often either, much less often than I have access to gum.

As such, I was a little puzzled about this suggestion to use orange or lemon rind as a gum alternative. It probably works, but seems kind of limited to situations where orange and/or lemon rinds are available. Not much use to me really.