The Truth Behind Gum

Whether it was chewing gum or bubble gum, most of us have chewed the stretchy, sugary substance before. However, if you were ever curious enough to look at the ingredient list on the package, you probably didn’t find much. You probably saw an assortment of sugars, colorings, and artificial flavorings. There was also something called gum base. The packaging does not tell you what gum base is or what it’s made of; it just tells you that it’s there. Gum manufacturers actually have the legal right to not include the components of gum base and to keep it a secret; simply writing that it’s there. 

However, gum chewers are not to be left in the dark! What manufacturers call “gum base” is a mixture that contains: polymers, elastomers, paraffin, resins, polyethylene, synthetic polymers, and natural latex. Essentially all of these ingredients add up to something called rubber. This is why frequently swallowing gum can lead to intestinal stones. 

So how is gum actually made? All of the above ingredients are melted and mixed with softeners, such as glycerin, to ensure that the gum base does not harden and is malleable enough to be chewed. While still warm, the gum is rolled by a machine that is coated with powdered sugar. It is then cut, cooled, and packaged.

That leaves the question: will you be chewing gum?

*I choose to write about the ingredients of gum because I feel as though it’s one of the many things that we do daily, chewing gum, without really knowing what it is that we are doing. So I think it’s fascinating to see that when you chew gum you are basically chewing on sugar-coated rubber. Now you know why your parents always said to never swallow gum.

http://www.chemistryislife.com/the-chemistry-of-gum

http://www.aquimicadascoisas.org/en/?episodio=the-chemistry-of-chewing-gum

Submitted by Briahna Lawson