Think twice before putting a pack of mint chewing gum in your bag.
Chewing gum was made a long time ago, and today the variety of its flavors is great. It does taste like mint, fruit, apple pie, blueberry muffin and even pepper. Chewing gum really helps to freshen your breath before a job interview, after having eaten a cake or when your mouth is dry. But it is not as harmless as it seems.
Of course, chewing gum has advantages, but it also has disadvantages, so you should never forget about them.
Sugar-free gums are still dangerous
“No sugar – no caries”, you may think. What if such a gum may even prove useful? Then, there is no need to scold the child for chewing it too often! Still, it turns out that such gums are often sweetened with aspartame, the use of which, as studies show, is associated with the occurrence of lymphomas, tumors and some types of cancer. Yet, a small amount of aspartame in chewing gums is not so harmful.
This artificial sweetener must be found in other foods and drinks that you consume. So, a large amount of it can enter your body. Track how much soda, sweets, and chewing gum your children have consumed over the past month.
Chewing gum can cause headaches
Excessive chewing of the gum creates unnecessary tension and pressure on the jaw, especially if a person has problems in this part of the face (temporomandibular disorder).
A small strip of chewing gum can cause pain when chewing, which ultimately leads to severe headaches.
The American Dental Association strongly recommends that people with health problems shouldn’t chew a gum at all. Doctors warn that frequent chewing can cause illnesses, even if there are no symptoms at the moment. Please note if your teenage child complains of headaches. He or she may be chewing gums too often.
You want to eat junk food after chewing a gum
There are studies that show that chewing gum sometimes helps to cope with appetite and forgo, for example, dessert. That’s all well and good, but
there are other studies showing that you want something salty, such as chips, after chewing a gum. Now, this is not a healthy fruit snack at all. Researchers believe that the flavor of mint changes the taste of fruits and makes them bitter, so you do not want to snack on them.
Chewing gum causes bloating
Chewing a gum contributes to the formation of air pockets in the body, which causes gas generation and bloating. These air pockets can be especially painful if a person already has irritable bowel syndrome. By the way, doctors note that unpleasant symptoms disappear almost immediately, when the patients quit their habit of chewing a gum.
Beware of harmful ingredients
Some of the ingredients in chewing gums are added for mere mass, and they do not cause cancer and do not threaten life. Chewing gum is made from waxes and resins, with the addition of sweeteners, colorants and flavors.
One of these widely used waxes is lanolin. It is a substance obtained by boiling sheep’s wool.
In the food industry, it is registered as a food supplement E913. It is not proven to be dangerous, but it is worth thinking about why it is contained in chewing gum.
