Dan's Papers - July 11, 2008 - Chew on This: The Fun of Gum

Growing up, learning to blow a big, pink bubble and snap your Hubba Bubba as loud as possible (much to the chagrin of mother and teacher) was a right of passage. Chewing gum is as American as apple pie and SUVs. Haven't we all been a victim of a bubble that grew too large for its own good and took revenge by popping and sticking to every available surface, never excluding face and hair? Our nostalgia for childhood gum-culture has roots in the past and may become a fixture in the future as developments in the world of chewing gum are keeping pace with our hybrid cars and plasma screen TVs.

Gum has come a long way from its predecessor in ancient Greece. Anthropologists think Alexander the Great and his army probably chomped on a chewing gum procured from the mastic tree called mastiche. Ancient Mayans chewed chicle (the early ancestor to Chiclets, perhaps?), which was actually sap from the sapodilla tree. In the United States, Americans began chewing gum made from spruce sap and beeswax while they fought the Red Coats and composed the Constitution. The first commercial chewing gum, named State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum, was produced and marketed in 1848 by John B. Curtis. In 1850, Curtis started selling flavored paraffin gums that eventually surpassed old-fashioned spruce gum in popularity.

Since chewing gum has evolved from strictly sap-flavored to its iconic bubble gum color and flavor, developments and advancements have been constant. In the new millennium, our health conscious and eco-friendly economy has shaped a new wave of chewing gums that make their sugary, fluorescent, cavity-causing predecessors look as out-dated as platform shoes and powdered wigs.

Chewing gum no longer simply masks your stale breath, but actually kills the germs that are the stuff of first-date-nightmares. The Wrigley Company is the first in the U.S. to incorporate magnolia bark extract, a natural ingredient proven to help kill bad breath germs, into their new line of Eclipse gum.

Eclipse is just one of a new wave of "dental gums" aimed at improving the health of the chewer's teeth and gums. Peelu gum is on the forefront of dental gum, drawing from an ancient, near-East dietary staple to entice the modern American gum aficionado. Peelu, or the so-called toothbrush stick from the Arak tree, has been used by people in the Middle East and India for over 1,100 years to maintain dental health in regions where sophisticated dental care is sometimes non-existent. Peelu gum is promising to provide the same benefits to gum chewers in the United States as a compliment to the dental care most of us have access to.

Xylitol, a naturally-occurring sweetener, is taking the gum world by storm. It imitates the sweetness of sugar in sugar-free gum but doesn't leave that diet-soda-aftertaste. Sugar-free gum has soared in popularity in our carb-conscious, diet-frenzied society. Some sugar-substitutes, like Aspartame (or Equal), are decay-neutral, meaning they don't cause decay but they don't prevent it either. Xylitol, on the other hand, has been proven to reduce the incidence of tooth decay. In a recent study conducted by Scandinavian researchers, Xylitol was proven to reduce decay by an average of 62%. In another study, researchers in Finland found that mothers who begin chewing Xylitol-sweetened gum three months after giving birth and continue for 21 months are less likely to transmit cavity-causing bacteria to their children. Epic brand gum (www.epicdental.com) has based its reputation on the benefits of Xylitol, and many of your favorites at the grocery store, like Trident, are following suit.

The benefits of gum are also beginning to venture out of the mouth, down the throat and into the stomach. My Grandma has been swearing for years that chewing a piece of watermelon Hubba Bubba after dinner prevents heartburn, and it turns out science is finally catching on to Nanny's idea. In 2005, researchers found the repetitive chewing motion, stimulated by Hubba Bubba (or any other brand, but don't tell Nanny), produces saliva that seems to neutralize the digestive stomach acid that leaks into the esophagus, causing that all too familiar burn. Not only did gum neutralize the acid, it seemed to help force fluids back into the stomach where they belong. Researches concluded that chewing gum for 30 minutes after a meal can provide relief for up to 3 hours.

It seems that gum has finally grown up, it's time for us to follow suit. Whether you prefer Mayan chicle or Bazooka, indulge every once in a while, but don't dismiss it's rightful place in our healthy-chic society.