Yum! It's Gum!

Next time your teacher says the infamous line ("Spit out your gum!"), you may want to throw in t that gum is healthy. Scientists are learning that chewing gum is beneficial. Gum may also help you get better grades on tests! Companies are trying new ways to enhance their gum. One way they are enhancing their gum is putting vitamins, medicines, and minerals. They also are adding ingredients that can cure headaches. Some gum may also fight serious diseases.

Making gum is an interesting process. Gum producers mix resin, wax and polyvinyl acetate. This is a gum base. Next, bins of melted gum base with sweeteners, syrups and powders. A different machine rotates the goo sticks. It also may press them into pellets. Lastly, the gum is packaged.

Now the million dollar question is the question WHAT CAN GUM DO FOR YOUR HEALTH? Plenty of studies show that gum-chewing after you eat will fight cavities. How? It stimulates the saliva produced. Saliva is a helpful part in the process of washing away harmful bacteria. The bacteria may hurt our teeth. Xylitol is added to some gum products. This gives an extra dose of cavity fighting power. Researches are showing that having healthy oral health decreases the risk of many serious diseases. Other studies show gum-chewing might be good for the brain. One study showed that gum-chewing enhanced the blood flow to the brain up to 40%! When blood is traveling, it carries oxygen. Oxygen carries brain cells. Memory tests are often better scored on while chewing gum than those who don't chew gum! A study showed that those who chewed gum did 25% better that those who did not chew any gum.

Researchers are learning that gum can work better to distribute medicine compared to a pill. The lining of our cheeks can absorb certain substances more rapidly than our intestines and stomachs. Studies show that people take in three times more while chewing gum compared to a pill. 40% of the medicine got to the bloodstream through the cheeks of the gum chewers. This specific discovery could do so much! There could be gums that relive headaches to curing bad breath. All of those breakthroughs may take a while. We can be sure that they will happen. There already is a gum that will help us stay awake! It's called Stay Alert. In each stick of this gum, there is an equal amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. This will only take a few minutes to kick in its effect. Whereas coffee takes an hour. This gum isn't in stores. It is only for the military. If you do find a caffeine gum in stores, chances are, it's not as well tested as Stay Alert.

For today, chew with care! Plenty of chewing may damage the jaw joint. Don't chew too much gum with vitamins or caffeine! This may cause and overdose. This is what Gayl Canfield says. He works at Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa in Aventura, Fla. There, she is a dietitian. She also says no matter how healthy gum-chewing shows itself to be, it will never be competition for a good lifestyle! "Nothing like a gum or a vitamin is going to cure a bad dietary habit or a bad exercise habit," Canfield says. "It's not a magic bullet."

To get more information, you can read the original article right here.