And that by chewing it you are ingesting a bunch of microplastics? Please confirm if this is true. I don’t want to believe.
Side question: what alternative means is there for sustained, minty fresh breath that does not involve ingesting microplastics? (Mints don’t work that great imo, the freshness wears off too fast. Gum was my go-to. Now what is left?)
Xantham gum is petroleum based no?
Yes it’s true. Gum base is made from various polymers and plastics, either synthetic or naturally extracted from plants. Regardless of whether it’s natural or synthetic, some microplastics will strip off into your saliva during chewing and enter your digestive tract. The vast majority of this will pass all the way through your digestive system without ever being absorbed into your bloodstream. But there may be nanoparticles small enough to pass through your gut membranes into your bloodstream.
The amount that gets absorbed is unknown, as are the long term affects of this. It’s clearly not dangerous in the short term, else billions would be sick all the time from chewing gum. But more science needs to be done to fully understand the implications of this.
As for alternatives, altoids are a particularly strong mint that lasts, imo. But if mints aren’t your jam, you can always keep a small bottle of mouth wash with you to get an occasional swish from (be careful not to dry your mouth out with it, or that will make your breath and oral health worse) and dissolvable breath strips if you can find them (feels like they’re nowhere near as common as they where when I was a kids. Also proper oral hygiene including twice daily tongue brushing/scraping keeps your breathe from getting bad in the first place, even if it’s not actually minty from that.
We need to bring back Binaca.
Microplastics specifically mean small bits, like hard plastic that’s crumbled. Gum is more like a really soft rubber. If you swallow it, then that’s a macroplastic. If you don’t, it’s fine, because it’s not really flaking off.
Like someone else mentioned, they can also use natural, but still inedible ingredients to provide the chewyness, not just artificial polymers.
The research completely disagrees:
Surprisingly, synthetic chewing gum released a similar (p > 0.8) number of microplastics as natural or plant-based chewing gums.
So basically, there’s microplastics in it as a contaminent, like in actual food. The base itself conclusively doesn’t generate them.
Thank you for finding the research that confirms it empirically. I was just going off of material science, before.
There’s nothing quite like when someone reads a study and doesn’t understand it, yet is such a smug, condescending arsehole whilst being completely wrong.
Edit: JFC, you didn’t even get past the abstract.
From the last sentence in the abstract:
The result reveals that chewing gum consumption, irrespective of the type of chewing gums, could result in direct ingestion of microplastics.
I think it may be the opposite? When synthetic chewing gum release the same amount of micro plastics as natural or plany-based gums, it’s not because they’re both releasing “baseline” micro plastics. It’s that they’re both releasing high levels levels of micro plastics.
Take this with a grain of salt though, as there’s no easy “baseline” level of micro plastics found in food for us to compare to, and different types of microplastics should theoretically have different biological effects depending on the polymer they originally came from (and there are MANY different types of plastics).
From the introduction, they quite a different study:
Daily human intake of microplastics from these food is estimated to be approximately 0.0002–1,531,524 microplastics per day (Heo et al., 2024).
This was kind of crazy to me. I’d assume the ideal level of micro plastics in my food is zero. So in the context of the amount listed by this particular study (“we found that each gram of chewing gum could release up to 637 microplastics, and 94 % of microplastics were released within the first 8 min of chewing”) … gum is maybe not a major concern? But it depends on the types of microplastics being released - like I said before, not all microplastics are the same in make-up or potential harm (I believe - I’m only a chemist, not a biochemist).
Fun fact: The higher end of the daily microplastic consumption estimate (about 1.5 million micro plastics daily) comes primarily from water bottles!
Also note that I can’t speak to the trustworthiness or quality of either of these studies, since I haven’t read their methodologis and literature review on a phone is torture.
I have a hard time believing that chewing a piece of plastic for thirty minutes would not cause you to ingest microplastics.
This person has absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
I linked the actual study above, but here’s an article from the American Chemical Society explaining a ULCA study linking chewing gum to microplastic exposure.
Depends on the plastic. Goo doesn’t flake, regardless of how close you look. They actually use that principle to keep dust out of semiconductor cleanrooms.
Although, if you’re really worried, you could just suck on a breath mint. Probably get rid of any plastic kitchen utensils, as well. Those definitely shed particles.
I’m sure industrial strength goo would not flake if you designed it for that purpose but I’m not sure if the pack of gum I bought for a few dollars in a vending machine would be of the same quality
I’m not a nutritionist or a food chemist so I have no idea about the micro plastics
You could make like the log lady in Twin Peaks and chew on pitch. No idea about flavor or whatever.
What’s pitch?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_base
I was today years old when I learned that talc is used as a filler in in acidic gums, so like every fruit flavor.
Hope they are paying for the asbestos free talc.
Why would you want asbestos-free talc? That’s like getting ribs without the sauce!
I also suggest inhaling your talc for best results.
If dental hygiene/healthcare isn’t doing it or isn’t accessible, then the next best I’ve found is certain softer wood. I have some sensory issues with anything putting pressure on my gums so I need to constantly keep food remnants out and also have something of an oral fixation so having something in my mouth is calming.
Some tree branches are great for chewing on. I used to live in an area with lots of Sassafras trees and those sapling branches were great for it. They have a bit of a waxy texture that I kind of liked. I’ve heard they also have a very mild stimulant effect in the bark as well which probably helped when I would grab them when hiking, but they don’t have a scent, though you could grab some mint leaves to supplement for that.
I also tend to get some good quality toothpicks (I like bamboo ones personally though they’re sometimes not as strong for picking) and soak them in a little bit of good quality tea tree oil that’s safe for ingesting (some is only safe for external cosmetic purposes). They’re good for picking food remnants which leads to bad breath, as well as chewing and tea tree oil has a mild disinfecting effect as well as leaving breath smelling fresh. But you could also soak them in mint oils (again make sure they are not just cosmetic grade, but also culinary grade).
Those oils are strong, though, so only a little is needed, but might still be too bitter for some. A little artificial sweetener mixed in before soaking might help if the taste is bothersome. Natural sugar is probably not good, though, since it will just make cavities worse and thus make your breath worse.
Dang, any suggestions on plastic-free alternatives to chew on? I’ve been chewing gum the past couple weeks to work my jaw more to help my tense jaw muscles.
Another commenter on here was recommending chewing on soft wood. Of course you’d want to make sure it’s not treated first. Tree branches from certain trees would be more what they are talking about.
You can try harder foods, like a very fat loaf of non-fermented bread or sth.
it’s mostly a type of latex, some waxes, vegetable oils, lecithin, and glycerin, terpenes, but not polymer plastics.
Sadly it indeed can include polymer plastics
In which countries?
I can’t speak for other countries, but in the U.S. companies are allowed to have plastic polymers included in their “gum base” and only have to write “gum base” on the ingredient list, so you just have to assume it’s in there.
Well, in USA that is not surprising at all. But elsewhere I would not really assume it.
Even plant based gums, like those made from chicle sap are a polymer chain that will chip off with chewing and enter your system. The major difference is that those particles are typically still biodegradable. That doesn’t necessarily make them safe, but they shouldn’t stick around forever.
If you can put a plastic straw in your mouth…
It is kind of weird, but the reasoning holds. Certain artificial polymers may well be allowed in a lot of countries. The EU doesn’t even like mixing wine grapes, though, so maybe not them.
It’s not natural to have minty fresh breath. It’s natural to succumb to infection and die, though, so don’t worry if that happens.
In any case, one can achieve ‘minty-breath’ (for a while, anyway) using altoids (etc), or actual leaves, and possibly extracts / sprays.
It’s not like gum is the only source.
Floss 👍
Well shit.
People will downvote anything.
No we won’t! We don’t argue for nothing either so go ahead and jot that down!
it’s usually xylitol, but yes.
Mostly, yes. Although the aspartame part is optional, it could be any other sweetener or even real sugar.
Nah.
Sometimes it’s basically just plastic with sorbitol.
I heard that myself a couple years ago and was equally disappointed/disbelieving. I started looking for more natural plant-based alternatives, but they’re actually a plastic polymer too. If you’re out hiking and forage for spruce/pine resin directly from the source: it’s still plastic. Very surprising, not what I would have intuited.
It’s not my field so I don’t know if the plant-based stuff is the same level of harm as petroleum-based plastic, but I would imagine either way it’s breaking down into undigestible particles that you’re stuck with for life.
As far as an alternative goes for minty breath: nothing stops you from cutting out the middleman and chewing on mint leaves directly. They grow like weeds so if you get some in your garden you’ll never run out. I guess the freshness probably doesn’t last as long that way, but it makes up for itself in intensity which is just as important for a palate cleanser imo. You could probably get more mileage out of it by turning it into iced tea, then you can sip it whenever you need some freshness.
Mastic I guess would be the next best thing.
I tried it but it’s too hard, you cannot really chew it. Even if you make it softer it’ll get harder after a while (heh)
If you’re out hiking and forage for spruce/pine resin directly from the source: it’s still plastic.
There’s such a thing as naturally occurring plastic? I’m sure that’s not as bad for you though, right?
As far as an alternative goes for minty breath: nothing stops you from cutting out the middleman and chewing on mint leaves directly.
That’s an interesting idea.
There’s such a thing as naturally occurring plastic? I’m sure that’s not as bad for you though, right?
Cyanide is “natural”. Not everything natural is “good” and not everything artificial is “bad”.
Yes, I don’t disagree, but one of the main reasons why plastics are bad for you is that they don’t break down, but natural materials seem to break down just fine generally speaking
Birch tar is at least very close to plastic after it’s hardened
To my understanding (though admittedly I’m not like a materials scientist or anything so take this with a grain of salt), “plastic” is a somewhat fuzzy term, the things it generally refers to are artificial polymers, but there are also a lot of naturally occurring polymers used in biology, and it’s not like chemicals care if they’re made by humans or not. One could call naturally occurring polymer materials plastic, but if you did that, you would have to say that, for example, things like wood and insect shells are made of plastic, which isn’t really how people generally use that word. Naturally occurring ones are probably less likely to create “microplastic” type issues though because there has generally been enough time for stuff to evolve to break those materials down, whereas purely artificial ones are too recent for that.
Yeah, the natural stuff isn’t really what we call “plastic”, and it does break down better. The synthetic stuff is much more durable, which is the problem.
