The relationship between chewing gum – each the sugary and the non-sugary kind – and whether chewing gum might prevent conditions like gum disease, bone loss around teeth, and caries, was studied in research published within the Journal of the American Nutrition Association in early 2024.
The researchers used data from individuals who were enrolled in a big population-based study between 2013 and 2019. In addition to reporting on their oral health, participants were also asked questions on their weight-reduction plan, weight and waist circumference – the scale of their waistline.
Analysis of the information showed no relationship between chewing gum and oral health.
However, out of the of 15,178 participants within the study, 2.4% reported to chew gum frequently. Gum chewers appeared to have a healthier weight-reduction plan, including a lower intake of added sugars in comparison with those that don’t chew gum.
So, should all of us be rushing out to purchase gum to chew ourselves to raised health?
Chewing away at obesity?
The answer isn’t any and here’s the explanation why.
The study doesn’t actually say that chewing gum leads to raised dietary decisions. All the information tells us is that a few of the participants who chew gum also occur to devour fewer refined sugars and have a healthier weight-reduction plan. The research doesn’t find any causality between chewing gum and improved health.
There might be various the reason why the researchers found this relationship. For example, it could be that folks who attempt to have a healthy weight-reduction plan may also be keen to maintain their teeth healthy and follow the widespread advice that chewing sugar free gum is sweet for teeth. Or, it would simply be that they prefer to have fresh breath. Your guess is nearly as good as mine.
In the study, nonetheless, gum chewers didn’t eat less, were no less prone to be chubby or didn’t have a slimmer waistline. So, no relationship was found between the quantity of food consumed, weight and whether or not people chewed gum.
Fixes for long-term health
The overconsumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, foods and processed foods is, unfortunately, quite common.
Increased consumption of sugar has led to a pointy rise within the variety of people who find themselves chubby or obese and those that have type 2 diabetes.
In addition to the health risks related to these conditions – and the associated fee of treating them – they will have a significant impact on quality of life.
The standard medical advice for obesity is to get loads of exercise and maintain a healthy weight-reduction plan – especially one low in saturated fats, refined carbohydrates and sugar.
This “eat less, move more” approach to obesity treatment has been criticised for being simplistic, overlooking the social and biological aspects that may contribute to weight problems. Even so, even this most simple advice – to eat a healthy weight-reduction plan and increase exercise – proves difficult for a lot of.
As anyone who’s attempted to kick a habit or to stick with a brand new 12 months’s resolution past January will know, changes to our lifestyle, including weight-reduction plan, are often tough to implement and even trickier to keep up. Seemingly easy, accessible options for weight control like chewing gum, or other social media fads like drinking apple cider vinegar or olive oil, are at all times welcome and newsworthy, then.
In order to say that chewing gum affects the best way we eat – healthier food decisions and consumption of less sugary foods – would require a trial where a bunch of participants are instructed to chew gum and have their food decisions and intake in comparison with one other non-gum chewing group.
These studies have actually been conducted, but the explanation chewing gum hasn’t been included in any health and dietary advice is that the outcomes of those studies didn’t provide strong evidence that chewing gum affects what and the way much we eat.
So, I’m afraid, chewing gum won’t enable you make the precise decisions in relation to food. It’s back to us making the difficult decisions, and governments and the food industry promoting healthy food decisions; and ensuring that healthy food is inexpensive to us all.
