Anxious? Chewing Gum May Help

It may sound too good to be true: One simple, science-backed remedy for anxiety is chewing gum. (And, no, I don't work for a gum company!)

Chewing gum is generally good for your health, if you stick to sugar-free products. People have been putting sugar-free wads of chewy stuff in their mouths since the earliest days of humanity. More than 5,700 years ago, in fact, we know a girl spat out a wad of gum made from birch bark, which turned up at an archaeological site in Denmark.

General Health Benefits

The secret of chewing is what scientists call "stimulated saliva." When stimulated by chewing, your mouth produces from 10 to 12 times as much saliva. In addition, that saliva contains much more of a key ingredient called bicarbonate, compared to unstimulated saliva. Bicarbonate, in turn, helps to minimize plaque, a contributor to cavities, tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath.

That explains why, as the American Dental Association (ADA) notes, chewing sugar-free gum has been shown to cut cavities. Getting down to measurement, researchers have documented that chewing sugarless gum, usually xylitol gum, cuts levels in the mouth of the bacteria that causes most cavities.

Bicarbonate also is important in balancing stomach acid. Although saliva is generally alkaline, the bicarbonate-heavy stimulated saliva may be especially effective at easing symptoms of acid reflux.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women, groups prone to reflux, are sometimes advised to chew gum. But pay attention to your own response. Chewing gum might aggravate your reflux if you end up swallowing air or if an artificial sweetener or flavoring like peppermint affects you.

What if your mouth feels dry? That’s a common complaint among the elderly, affecting up to 40 percent. If chewing gum helps but you dislike it, there’s good news: You may get a lasting benefit from a short try. If you chew gum daily for at least two weeks, you can prompt your mouth to produce more saliva without that extra stimulation, according to a meta-analysis.

Gum chewing can moderate nausea and is even recommended to post-surgical patients.

Mental Benefits of Gum

When you chew gum, you may feel more relaxed and focused. A meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials, involving more than 400 adults, concluded that “chewing gum is an inexpensive, well-tolerated, safe, and effective way to relieve anxiety and stress.” You may need to chew regularly for at least two weeks to see benefits. The mechanism seems to involve altered levels of cortisol, a stress marker, though scientists don't know exactly how.

Some people chew gum to help stay awake while driving or studying late. There’s evidence that chewing increases blood flow to parts of the brain linked to learning and memory. A couple of small studies suggest that chewing gum while studying leads to better scores on academic tests, most recently one involving nursing students in Turkey. Other research has found that chewing gum during the workday increased focus, though separate other work contradicts the idea that chewing improves performance on tasks.

The research doesn't separate out the placebo effect—people know if they're chewing!—but, as placebos go, this one is inexpensive. If knowing the remedy is right in your handbag or pocket calms you, that's a good thing!

Sticking to Sugar-Free Gum

The ADA has given its seal of approval to gums sweetened by non–cavity-causing sweeteners including aspartame, sorbitol, xylitol, or mannitol. While chewing gum doesn’t replace brushing and flossing, it can be an effective stopgap measure if you’re traveling and an everyday strategy to help handle reflux, anxiety, and nausea as well.

Bottom line: If you stick to sugarless gum, this sounds like a harmless strategy to try.

A version of this post appears at Your Care Everywhere.