When it comes to beating garlic breath, put away the mouthwash and forget the mints. So, now what? Yogurt, of all things.

In the battle against the pungent aftereffect of the stinking rose, scientists at Ohio State University have a new weapon. And while it might not pair well with a garlic-heavy meal, yogurt does well at knocking down garlic breath.

To prove that, the researchers deployed plain, whole-milk yogurt that was reduced to its essential components. In this case, that was fat, water and protein. So how did it stand up to the stink? And which one of those components was the magic bullet?

Using raw garlic in glass bottles, the scientists first made sure there were enough offending, sulfur-based chemicals to be detected by the human nose. Yogurt alone reduced 99% of the odor-producing chemicals.

But that wasn’t enough for the scientists. They needed to know what part of the yogurt was stopping the smell. After diving deeper, they found it was mostly the fat and protein doing the heavy lifting. In the case of fat, more was better when it came to trapping the volatile molecules that drive garlic’s aroma.

Changing the yogurt’s acidity also affected its smell-trapping ability. As the yogurt became less acidic, its ability to neutralize garlic odor also diminished. That led them to a logical conclusion: Focus on the proteins as the savior of socially acceptable breath.

It also raises the possibility that with its even higher protein content, Greek yogurt could be even more effective than its plain, whole-milk cousin.

So, after a robust, garlicky meal, there’s only one thing to do: Leave the cannoli, take the yogurt.