The average American chews nearly 2 pounds of gum each year. Most like the flavors or the mouth-freshening feel of mint gums, but there is far more to gum-chewing than what your taste buds experience. Scientists are continually finding new ways that gum can benefit us, from the alertness brought on by the simple activity of chewing to the potentially medically beneficial ingredients that can be added by gum manufacturers to turn it into the "delivery vehicle of the future".

Medical benefits from gum? You better believe it! Studies show that gum chewing is can help fight the development of cavities by stimulating the production of acid-neutralizing saliva. Xylitol, a common gum ingredient, has been shown to have more specific cavity-fighting properties, as well. It can also, as noted above, help to fight bad breath.

Gums available in Europe and Asia have ingredients like green tea extract, calcium and other nutritional supplements that would typically be found in a vitamin pill. Some children's gums already contain Vitamin-C, for instance. In addition to replacing vitamin pills and supplements, some doctors are considering gum as an alternative to pill-forms of prescription medicines because they would make medicine so easy to "take." Of course, the overall effectiveness of such a plan has not yet been thoroughly tested, although it is known that many substances are very easily absorbed through the gums, but because gum "can contain as many as 70 ingredients" it is certainly possible for thousands of different formulations to be put together.

How long does the flavor in your gum last? OR, for that matter, what type of gum do you chew? Lately, I've been chewing quite a bit of Orbitz and I'm pretty satisfied with how long the flavor lasts. I also chew Extra and have found that some of their flavors seem to last longer than others (the mints verses the fruits). Gum is one of the most popular "foods" items in the US, but it is probably also the most complained about. According to the vice president of Cadbury Schweppes, 66% of people feel that their gum looses flavor too quickly. So, to try to give customers what they want, Cadbury has developed a new gum, called Stride. The gum is formulated to remain soft and chewy longer, as well as to release its flavor more slowly, thus increasing the amount to time that customers are willing to chew it. An unofficial taste test in the New York Times found that it did last longer than regular gum, averaging about 20 minutes of good chewing time. The new product will hit the shelves later this month, as will a $50 million advertising campaign, so the release - just like the longer, time-release flavor of the gum itself - will probably be hard to miss.