So is chewing gum good or bad for our teeth? And how harmful is swallowing the chewing gum? We’ll tell you whether or not you can continue to chew gum without worrying.
Various myths and mysteries have been entwined around chewing gum for a long time: Can you swallow chewing gum or does it stick to your stomach? Do they promote tooth decay and impair the ability to concentrate? We got to the bottom of these questions with the help of numerous scientific studies on chewing gum.
Table of Contents
Chewing gum: harmful or even healthy?
1. Dental health
Whether chewing gum damages or protects your teeth depends heavily on the ingredients in it. Because classic chewing gum, in which conventional sugar is used for sweetening, can have a cariogenic effect. This increases your risk of tooth decay and permanently damages your teeth. Instead, you should always turn to sugar-free alternatives that are only sweetened with sweeteners or sugar substitutes such as xylitol. In an Italian study by the University of Sassariresearchers found that chewing gum containing xylitol regularly can prevent tooth decay. In the randomized, placebo-controlled study, 130 participants chewed either xylitol chewing gum or placebos with another sugar substitute for one year. At the end of the experiment, the subjects from the xylitol group had a significantly lower caries status , which was determined using the bacterium Streptococcus mutans.
In addition, the flow of saliva in the mouth is stimulated by the chewing process when chewing gum . The additional saliva not only neutralizes acids in the mouth, but also dilutes the stomach acid, which means that the esophagus is better protected against chemical burns when heartburn (acid reflux) occurs.
2. Is swallowing gum dangerous?
In general, swallowing chewing gum is not dangerous. While the nutrients and additives contained are digested normally in the intestine, only the chewing mass, which mostly consists of petroleum-based plastics , reaches the end of the large intestine more or less undamaged and is excreted with the bowel movement. Due to the mucous membranes in the gastrointestinal tract, there is no risk of the chewing gum sticking there. However, excessive chewing of gum can cause bloating or diarrhea due to the sugar substitutes it containscause, which is why you should always follow the consumption recommendations of the respective manufacturer. This slightly laxative effect could even prove useful for certain medical conditions. For example, researchers from the University of Auckland found in a meta-analysis of 12 studies that chewing gum can help to stimulate digestion and intestinal transit – albeit to a small extent – in the case of an intestinal obstruction (ileus).
3. Chewing gum improves concentration
In fact, chewing gum can have a positive effect on your ability to concentrate. This is not due to the sugar or sugar substitute it contains, but to the chewing process itself. Because chewing promotes blood flow to the brain and specifically the blood flow to the frontal lobes, which increases the brain activity of those chewing, as scientists from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University reported in one study found. Chewing also seems to have a psychological effect: in a review of 42 studies examined, researchers at Cardiff University discovered that chewing gum can increase alertness for a short period of time and in some cases even reduce stress.
Important: In addition to the health effects, there is also an environmental aspect to consider when chewing gum. This is because most conventional chewing gum is made from petroleum-based plastics. In the meantime, however, plastic-free chewing gum is also available in more and more drugstores. It’s worth taking a look at the packaging.
