Gum: Most People Do Not Know It Is Made From Plastic

Chewing gum is one of those products that almost nobody reads the ingredient label for. You buy it, you chew it, you spit it out. But there are a few things about what is in gum that are genuinely surprising.

What Is Gum Base

Every piece of conventional chewing gum contains gum base as one of the primary ingredients. And gum base is not a simple or natural material. It is a blend of synthetic polymers, elastomers (basically types of synthetic rubber), resins, and plasticizers. The specific formulation is almost never disclosed because it is considered a proprietary formula. What this means is that when you chew conventional gum, you are mechanically working a mixture of synthetic plastic and rubber compounds in your mouth for potentially extended periods.

Whether the compounds in gum base actually leach into your saliva and get absorbed is not completely clear from the existing research. But gum base is not a material that has been subjected to rigorous long-term safety testing as a food-contact material. The mechanical action of chewing for extended periods, combined with warm saliva, is exactly the condition most likely to extract whatever leachable compounds exist from gum base.

Artificial Sweeteners

Most sugar-free gums use aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose, or some combination. Aspartame is probably the most researched food additive in history and has been cleared as safe by major health agencies for decades. However, in 2023 the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" based on limited evidence from human studies and more suggestive animal studies. The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives maintained the acceptable daily intake, meaning the classification does not change that typical consumption is unlikely to be harmful. But it does reflect ongoing scientific uncertainty.

Acesulfame-K is another common gum sweetener with less research attention than aspartame. Some animal studies have shown it may affect insulin secretion and gut microbiome composition.

Cleaner Gum Alternatives