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.

Candy Addict recently did a review of several graphic artists that paint and sculpt with chewing gum. I think my favorite of the three they list is a series called Gum Blondes by artist Jason Kronenwald. His Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe are great. Candy Addict also mentions GumArt, a collection three-dimensional works from veteran gum artist Jamie Marraccini. These sort of recall the stop-motion animation of early Peter Gabriel videos. Finally, there's Ben Harben, whose Bubblegum Society art (above) imitates the bubblegum life of reality television with portraits of stars from shows like American Idol and Survivor. Candy Addict also has info on "Chew by Numbers" kits.

I used to chew gum all the time when I was a kid. No big shock, I'm sure a lot of kids do. But I bring it up because somewhere along the line, my gum chewing stopped. It's not that I stopped eating candy or junk food or snacks, but the gum was replaced by chocolate and cookies and chips, which probably explains my waist line.

But this summer I've started chewing gum again, thanks to Extra. No, not that Extra. I mean the gum! They have two cool flavors out, Watermelon and Cool Green Apple. They not only sound good, they sound summer-y. I've watched the crazy ads (that damn stick of gum riding the horse at the rodeo) and picked up several packs the other day.

A Swiss lab has created a system of sensors and microphones to help dieters keep track of what they eat. A report from The Wearable Computing Laboratory describes how an in-ear microphone (right) was used, with very high accuracy, to identify various foods based on what they sounded like as they were eaten. Other parts of the system include a collar to detect swallowing and hand sensors to detect "food intake related motions." The lab hopes that all of this automation will make it easier for people to keep track of what they eat, as opposed to having to manually take notes about everything they consume in a day.

[Via pasta and vinegar]

IceChewing.com is a forum for people who chew ice. The general tone on the message boards seems to be one of relief and excitement among ice chewers who are all glad to have found each other. There's a board for medical conditions, such as anemia, related to ice chewing, as well as sections for ice chewing stories and recipes. Oddly enough, I didn't see any posts about the dental injuries that are frequently caused by chewing on ice.

[Via The Knowledge For Thirst]

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.

The Wrigley gum company is on a mission to prove that gum is not something to be chewed for fun and to annoy teachers. After years of the underappreciation of the value of its products, the company has turned to science for some answers. The Wrigley Science Institute was founded to discover whether gum can actually aid in weight management, stress relief, or in boosting concentration, all claims that have been made and passed along by gum chewers over the years. If the Science Institute can find sufficient evidence, the company can then claim the health benefits of the product on the products' packaging or in ads.

Just think back to all the elemantary school teachers who told you not to chew gum in class. If the Wrigley Science Institute is right about some of their theories, those same teachers could be passing out sticks of gum before tests!