What Happens To Your Body When You Chew Gum (Especially Peppermint)

Have you ever wondered how chewing gum works? No matter the flavor, all gum consists of a base that's often made with hydrophobic polymers, which makes it hold up to your saliva as you chew. Because of that, gum has effects on the environment in the form of plastic pollution, because most gums are made with butadiene-based synthetic rubber and disposed of incorrectly. Despite that, science has revealed some positive effects that chewing gum has on your body.

Sure, chewing sugar-free gum can improve your oral health because it increases saliva production, which prevents dry mouth and neutralizes the acids that erode your teeth. But, on a deeper level, a 1997 study published in the Archives of Oral Biology discovered that chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain's supplementary motor areas by 9% to 17% and to the primary sensorimotor areas by 25% to 28%. As a result, it can activate various regions of the brain. In a 2009 study published in Physiology & Behavior, evidence showed that chewing gum can reduce cortisol levels in the body, thereby reducing anxiety and stress and improving negative mood and alertness.

On top of that, a 2018 study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology found that chewing gum can improve cognitive function. In one experiment, adults who chewed while studying physiology for 20 minutes had better comprehension and terminology test scores than adults who didn't chew. In a second experiment, adults who chewed while studying mental mathematics strategies for nine minutes outperformed non-chewing adults in problem-solving tests. But it's not just the chewing that helps you, the flavor could be having an impact as well.

As you chew gum, the flavor and sweetener dissolves in your mouth. You probably don't consider what the flavor is doing beyond tasting good, but that's what scientists have done. For a 2018 study published in the International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings, researchers at Whitworth University in Washington State dared to investigate the combined effects of chewing gum and its flavor on cognitive function.

The study involved 22 undergraduates completing three Stroop tests — a type of cognitive control task that involves naming the color of a word rather than reading the word. What makes the test of alertness and attention to detail difficult is that the color and word don't match. While one test didn't include chewing gum, the other two included peppermint and fruit-flavored gums separately. The researchers found that the participants were significantly faster at completing the test while chewing peppermint-flavor gum, which was attributed to the peppermint seemingly increasing alertness. That was the only main difference; they didn't find any significant advantages or disadvantages between the flavors in regard to accuracy, heart rate, or stress.

This study isn't the first to show that peppermint can be a potent tool to improve your memory and brain function. A 2015 study published in Procedia Manufacturing showed that just smelling peppermint oil while driving reduced anxiety, fatigue, and frustration while raising alertness. Additionally, a 2022 study published in Molecules reported better learning and memory in mice after smelling peppermint oil.