A new study led by Dr Paula Geiselman at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University suggests that chewing sugar-free gum "may be effective in the control of intake of sweet snacks and thereby would be useful in weight management".

115 people who regularly chew gum participated in the study. Each came to the Pennington lab on two days. On one of those days, they consumed sugar-free chewing gum, beginning an hour after lunch and chewing for 15 minutes an hour, over three hours. On the other day, the participants spent the afternoon without chewing gum.

Approximately three hours after lunch, each volunteer was offered a variety of snacks. They could eat as much as they liked.

On the day they had chewed gum, participants snacked on foods contributing around 530 calories on average, 45 fewer calories than on the day they had spent gum-free.

Furthermore, during the hourly polling, participants who chewed gum reported experiencing significantly less craving for sweets and stated that they felt less drowsy.

24 April 2009

Geiselman, P.J., et al. 2009. Effects of Gum Chewing on Specific Macronutrient and Total Caloric Intake in an Afternoon Snack (Abst. 101.3). Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans (April 19).

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