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Topics: Cancer, Science, Food and Drink
Joe Yates
If you're a fan of chewing gum then a new study will come as a huge blow to you.
Scientists have found a link between gum and cancer - and that's through the form of microplastics. Incredibly, the average chewing gum consumer may unknowingly ingest the equivalent of 15 credit cards worth of plastic every single year.
While it is still yet to be concluded, it is believed that microplastics promote cancer. There are hundreds of studies that suggest this could be the case, but none that undeniably state that they are the cause.
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Although, recently Californian researchers concluded that an individual being exposed to microplastics is 'suspected' to play a role with the increase in colon and even lung cancer.
Now, a study, titled Chewing gums: Unintended sources of ingested microplastics in humans, notes that chewing gum releases microplastics.
Chewing gum is essentially made of three ingredients: sweetener, flavorings, and then of course that rubbery base we're all familiar - polymer, which is the same material that's in plastic, like trash bags, and rubber, such as car tires.
“Our goal is not to alarm anybody,” explains the paper's principal investigator, engineering Professor Sanjay Mohanty, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
"Scientists don’t know if microplastics are unsafe to us or not. There are no human trials. But we know we are exposed to plastics in everyday life, and that’s what we wanted to examine here."
The abstract of his team's study revealed the one thing chewing gum lovers should do to lower any potential risk of developing cancer.
"The results reveal that each gram of gum can release up to 637 microplastic particles, with 94% being released within the first 8 minutes of chewing," it read in part.
So, if you want to continue to chew gum, you may want to chomp on it for longer rather than switch it over straight after the flavor disappears.
"Interestingly, synthetic gums released a similar amount of microplastics as natural, plant-based gums," it continued.
It went on to explain some microplastics could have been missed due to the limitations of the equipment they had.
Before adding: "These findings suggest that chewing gum may lead to the direct ingestion of microplastics, potentially posing health risks."
While Mohanty concluded: "The plastic released into saliva is a small fraction of the plastic that’s in the gum.
"So, be mindful about the environment and don’t just throw it outside or stick it to a gum wall.”