What's in your Chewing Gum?

5 Dangerous Ingredients in Chewing Gum

Written by Organics

An average person does not pay attention what’s in their gum. After all, you chew it and spit it out, right? No harm in that. But there is. The ingredients, some of which are quite dangerous, do enter your body, through the walls of your mouth while bypassing your digestive system that would typically get rid of some of these toxins. So if you or your kids chew gum, it’s important to check for these very harmful ingredients:

1. Calcium Casein Peptone (Calcium Phosphate)

Trident gum is the primary user of this ingredient. It’s a highly processed milk derivative used for texturizer/whitening agent. Casein was previously linked to baby formula poisonings in China.

2. Gum Base

Gum base just sounds right when it’s part of the ingredients for gum, doesn’t it? But in fact, this ingredient is often shrouded in mystery, as nobody really knows what its made of. Investigations showed that its typically a mixture of plasticizers, elastomers, fillers and resins. And that’s all that is usually revealed to the gum-chewing customers. However, it’s entirely possible that the gum base can contain talk (linked to cancer), polyvinyl acetate (which is carpenter’s glue) and paraffin wax (petroleum derived).

3. Titanium Oxide

Titanium oxide has been found as a potential carcinogen that will seep right into your bloodstream. It has been also linked to asthma, autoimmune disorder and Crohn’s disease. Gum is has also the highest content of Titanium Oxide among our everyday products, which make it easy for children to ingest large doses of it.

4. BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene)

Butylated Hydroxytoluene, or BHT for those who have a hard time pronouncing it, is a ingredient that has been banned in many countries due to its link to liver and kidney damage, hyperactivity in children and organic system toxicity. It may also contain carcinogenic properties. However, in the US, it is still used as a preservative in processed foods and gum.

5. Aspartame

Last but certainly not the least dangerous ingredient in gum is Aspartame. It’s an artificial sweetener that is found in sugar-free gums. Your body metabolizes aspartame both into formaldehyde (a carcinogen, often used as embalming fluid, not eliminated by your kidneys and liver) and wood alcohol (a known poison). Aspartame has been recently linked to cancers, birth defects, weight gain and brain tumors.

Gum Effects Worse than a Visit to the Dentist

Sorry to burst your bubble about the perceived innocence of gum. However, there are bigger effects of chewing gum than just visits to the dentist’s office. Besides the dangerous side effects mentioned above, chewing gum can also cause digestion problems and sugar-free gum may still lead to dental erosion. Always know what you are putting in your mouth, no matter what it is. Gum is certainly not an exception to this.  If you can’t refrain yourself from chewing gum, luckily, there are natural alternatives available. Just do your due diligence and research with the ingredients as some natural gums may still be harmful.

Sources:

http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/383-why-a-stick-of-gum-is-more-harmful-to-your-health-than-anything-that-you-eat.html

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es204168d

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471015313000123

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21979369

http://cspinet.org/new/201308141.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666312004138