chewing gum

By Douglas Main

Chewing gum made from either synthetic polymers or tree-based resins sheds significant quantities of tiny plastic particles into saliva,  according to a study currently undergoing peer review that was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Researchers found that chewing gum, on average, releases over 600 particles of microplastics per gram, with the average stick of gum weighing between two and six grams, according to the study, in which researchers chewed 10 different types of leading gum brands and then sampled their saliva at various time points.

“We need to be aware that these gums are releasing plastics into our body,” said Sanjay Mohanty, study co-author, a professor at University of California Los Angeles.

Synthetic gum is made up of plastic polymers, a fact that most people are not aware of, said study lead author Lisa Lowe, a graduate student in Mohanty’s lab. It didn’t come as a shock to the researchers, then, that gum released microplastics.

The scientists were surprised, however, that “natural” gums that use plant resins as a base had similar levels of microplastics, which must be getting there somehow during the manufacturing process, they said.