When I was on Weight Watchers many years ago, one of the coaches suggested that chewing gum throughout the day might help with cravings. A new study, however, suggests that you may be ingesting tens of thousands of microplastics each year by doing so.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are less than five millimeters long. That’s smaller than a pencil eraser. They can apparently be found in almost everything, including our air, water, food and apparently, chewing gum.
Recent studies suggest that when these plastic particles work their way into our bodies, they can damage cells and DNA, cause changes in gene activity. By doing that, it increases the risk of developing cancer.
Researchers have now found that chewing gum releases microplastics into saliva which can then be then swallowed, allowing the particles to infiltrate the digestive system. This means that the average gum-chewer may be ingesting the equivalent of 15 credit cards per year.
The recent study found that an average of 100 microplastics were released per gram of gum, although some pieces released as many as 600 microplastics per gram. These results came after they tested six different brands of gum.
Researchers say that the average person chews 160 to 180 small sticks of gum per year. That means people ingest around 30,000 microplastics each year from gum alone(on top of the tens of thousands they consume from other foods and beverages). The researchers found that a piece of gum releases the most microplastics within the first two minutes of chewing, as the coating of the gum is broken down. By eight minutes in, 94 percent of the plastic particles collected during testing had been released.
They suggest that to cut down on the amount of plastics you ingest from gum, chew a piece longer instead of chewing one piece after another. (What will people who chew Fruit Stripes do?!)
On the bright side, a spokesperson for the National Confectioners Association says, “The authors of this small pilot study readily admit in their press release that there is no cause for alarm. Gum is safe to enjoy as it has been for more than 100 years. Food safety is the number one priority for US confectionery companies, and our member companies use only FDA-permitted ingredients.”
Somehow, this doesn’t put me at ease ….
What are your thoughts?
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
I guess the more information we have the more we can make good choices. That said new health warnings come out every day, many based on just one study. So I take it all with a grain of salt. And yes I know too much sodium is bad for you.
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Wow, this is a little scary. My question is, how do plastics end up appearing in so many foods and things?
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I don’t know. On the one hand, there are things in our environment that are making us sicker in many ways, increasing some cancer rates etc and to me, plastics are quite possibly a significant cause… I mean I have to think ‘what is different about our lives now compared to the ’50s or 1920s?’. But on the other hand, I also think there’s no way to avoid it really so the amount you’re going to consume thru gum is probably pretty insignificant. Either way, interesting and maybe good for me – back up north, working in a store, I was overwhelmingly aware of potential for bad breath, especially since I drink a lot of coffee so I’d chew a lot of gum., usually the pellet-shaped sugar free ones. Went thru maybe 3 packs a week. Now here, to be honest, I don’t interact with the public nearly as much and I usually rely on brushing my teeth regularly and maybe taking a swig of mouthwash before I go out; a pack of gum might last me 4 months. So, if it is a health risk, I guess I inadvertently helped myself be healthier!
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Oh no!
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Yikes!
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