--- title: Is Chewing Gum Bad For You? description: Chewing gum may provide a pick-me-up, but don't chew mint gum before meals. Choosing a sugar free gum could help prevent cavities. canonical: https://time.com/4053793/chewing-gum/ author: Markham Heid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-30T14:34:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:31.311Z article:section: Health og:title: You Asked: Should I Chew Gum? og:description: Chewing gum may provide a pick-me-up, but don't chew mint gum before meals. Choosing a sugar free gum could help prevent cavities. og:url: https://time.com/4053793/chewing-gum/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf63a515c8544f9f6/698865f7196cf418cf038477/unknown1.png?branch=production&width=372&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 372 og:image:height: 209 og:image:alt: You Asked logo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Asked: Should I Chew Gum? twitter:description: Chewing gum may provide a pick-me-up, but don't chew mint gum before meals. Choosing a sugar free gum could help prevent cavities. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf63a515c8544f9f6/698865f7196cf418cf038477/unknown1.png?branch=production&width=372&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Asked: Should I Chew Gum? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Markham Heid](https://time.com/author/markham-heid/) ## Markham Heid Markham Heid is a contributor at TIME. He is the author of The Habit Trap, due out in early 2027. Sep 30, 2015 2:34 PM UTC  by [Markham Heid](https://time.com/author/markham-heid/) ## Markham Heid Markham Heid is a contributor at TIME. He is the author of The Habit Trap, due out in early 2027. Sep 30, 2015 2:34 PM UTC From tree resin and paraffin wax to Juicy Fruit, people have chewed gum (or gum-like substances) for thousands of years. So it makes sense there’s more to the habit that fresh breath or a little masticatory diversion. A lot more, it turns out. Chewing gum can boost your mood and alertness while combatting stress. That’s according to several recent studies, including [one 2009 effort](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19268676) from Australian and UK researchers. “There is evidence that chewing increases blood flow to the brain, and this may contribute to the increase in alertness that is consistently associated with gum chewing,” says Dr. Andrew Scholey, co-author of that 2009 paper and director of the Centre for Human Psychopharmacology at Australia’s Swinburne University. In terms of gum’s mood-elevating anti-stress powers, Scholey says chewing the stuff seems to reduce your levels of the stress hormone cortisol. [Another study](http://thekeep.eiu.edu/csd%5Ffac/48/), this one from a team at Eastern Illinois University, found gum helped high school students relax while taking the ACT. But exactly how gum pulls all of this off is still a bit of a mystery. **MORE**: “[NeuroGum” Is Now A Thing](http://time.com/4029494/caffeinated-gum/) One possibility: Research shows your stress tends to spike when you’re feeling peckish. (It’s [one of the reasons](http://time.com/4010208/hangry-low-blood-sugar/) some people get “hangry” between meals, experts say.) Chewing gum may temporarily turn off some of your brain’s stress-elevating “I need food” alarms, and so it may help lower worry and improve calm. But when it comes to gum and your diet, things get tricky. While some people swear gum helps them cut back on snacks and at mealtimes, chewing certain flavors of gum at the wrong time may be problematic for people hoping to eat healthier. According to [a study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471015313000123) from the University at Buffalo, those who chomped on mint gum before eating were less inclined to reach for healthy stuff like fruit, though their enthusiasm for junky foods like potato chips was undiminished. That study’s author, Dr. Jennifer Temple, jokingly refers to this as the “brushing your teeth before eating fruit” effect. She explains, “For some people, mint makes fruit taste awful.” Temple’s experiments also showed people who chewed gum frequently ate fewer meals than non-chewers—but tended to load up on calories when they _did_ eat. While many interpreted this as proof that gum isn’t an effective diet aid, Temple says her experiments only included mint gum, and put some burdensome restrictions on the gum chewers’ eating behaviors, such as forcing them to chew a piece 15 minutes before every meal. **MORE**: [6 Weird Diet Tricks That Actually Work](http://time.com/4025120/weird-diet-tricks/) Another [study](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2009-10/epr-sfc102009.php), this one from the University of Rhode Island, had people chew gum throughout the morning hours. Those people ended up swallowing 67% fewer calories at lunchtime, compared to their midday meals on a day when they didn’t chew gum. And no, they didn’t make up those calories during the afternoon and evening. “I would say avoid mint gum just before meal times, because we found it encourages lower consumption of fruits and vegetables,” Temple says. “But in terms of replacing snacks with gum, that could be beneficial.” She adds, “There are still lots of open questions our research didn’t answer.” So while the specifics of gum-as-diet-aid are still murky, one piece of advice is clear: If you’re going to chew, choose sugar-free gum. While sugar-sweetened gum is bad for your teeth, the American Dental Association says chewing sugarless gum stimulates saliva flow, which reduces plaque and helps prevent cavities. [A 2012 review](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22747775) of nearly 600 research papers came to the same conclusion; chewing gum is good for your teeth, so long as you’re chomping on the sugar-free stuff. Gum may provide a quick pick-me-up if you’re feeling frazzled, unfocused or famished. And while chewing the mint varieties before meals or snacks may lead you to select less-healthy foods, a stick of sugar-free gum after a meal could protect your teeth from cavities. Happy chewing. ### You Asked: Your Top 10 Health Questions Answered  You Asked: Are Cleanses Healthy? Potions that claim to clear your body of toxins might sound alluring, but do they deliver? Illustration by Peter Oumanski for TIME  You Asked: Is Eating Dessert Really That Bad For Me? Bad news for sweet-eaters—except if you end your meals with this kind of treat. Illustration by Peter Oumanski for TIME  You Asked: What’s the Best Way to Whiten My Teeth? Yes, teeth whitening actually works—but here's why you have to dish out major bucks to see results. Illustration by Peter Oumanski for TIME  You Asked: Is Meditation Really Worth It? From easing stress to lowering heart disease risk, focusing your mind can do some amazing things for your body. 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