Chewing gum

This seemingly innocent little breath freshener has more than enough reasons why you should avoid it. You just have to ask yourself, how can something that you can chew without end and not disintegrate, be healthy for you? To start with, many chewing gums claim to be sugar-free, but to make them sweet, they use artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners, like aspartame, has been linked to brain tumors, birth defects, and cancer. This is enough reason in itself to stop chewing.

Many people who actually chew, do so chronically and aggressively. This is an unnatural exertion of the jaw muscles and can cause certain mouth disorders due to the extra wear and tear on the joints. Furthermore, when you chew, there are eight different facial muscles that work hard. Two of these muscles are located close to your temples. When you chew too much, the muscles close to your temples put pressure on the nerves and can cause severe headache.

Chewing gum is only a mask for bad breath and it treats a symptom rather than taking care of the cause. Bad breath is caused by digestive problems and tooth decay. This means that in a way, you are worsening the cause of the bad breath. Not only does it interfere with your metabolism, but the sugar causes cavities.

Speaking of digestive problems, when you chew gum, your mouth secretes saliva which activates your stomach to start producing stomach acid. This acid then doesn’t have anything to digest. It is believed that the excess acid can lead to stomach ulcers or aggravate already existing ones. Lastly, when you chew plenty of gum, you tend to swallow an excess amount of air. This can cause you to feel bloated and even cause stomach ache and cramping.