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Chewing Gum can make you Smarter, Thinner |
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Written by Jessica Smith
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Sunday, 16 August 2009 |
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Trying to lose weight? How about improve your attention span? You may
want to pop a piece of gum in your mouth and start chewing.
According to research sponsored by the Wrigley Science Institute and presented at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting last week, there's new reasons to chew gum.
Researchers at Louisiana State University found that when 115 people were offered snacks three hours after lunch, they ate fewer snacks and had more energy when they chewed gum for 15 minutes every hour over the three-hour period, compared to the afternoons when they did not chew gum. Study participants reported feeling less hungry and having fewer sweet cravings after chewing gum; they also decreased their snack intake by 40 to 60 calories.
Another study at Baylor College of Medicine had 108 eighth-grade math students divide into two groups. One group chewed gum at school and while doing homework, the other group didn't chew gum at all. The results: gum chewers had a 3% increase in their test scores and also had higher final grades.
So does gum really have benefits or are gum manufacturers just trying to sell more gum? Well, maybe a little of both. Sugarless gum does have protective benefits, such as preventing tooth decay and reducing plaque, according to the American Dental Association. And if you're trying to quit smoking, chewing gum may help. It also burns about 11 calories per hour. But before you begin stockpiling gum for a new gum diet, think again. Since the days of getting gum from trees are long gone, gum today is made with artificial sweeteners and colors. If you want to get away from synthetic ingredients without reducing your chewing pleasure, one option is Glee Gum, an all-natural, vegetarian chewing gum sweetened with rice syrup and pure cane sugar that's available in natural foods stores. And of course, eating right and getting plenty of exercise will do a lot more for your body and your mind than chewing packs of gum.
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