YES - Effects of Chewing Gum

YES - Effects of Chewing Gum

The Wrigley’s gum company was curious about the effect of their product on chewers. The company tested five hundred ninety-one students in a nonscientific survey to test the effects of gum chewing on memories, alertness, and concentration. This study showed that individuals who chewed five pieces of gum prior to and during test-taking had better scores on the exam than those who did not chew gum. They backed their claim with the results of a study at the University of North Umbria. The study showed that chewing gum while performing memory tests appeared to improve people's ability to learn, retain, and retrieve information (Wrigley).

The observation that gum chewing could improve performance has a basis in other areas of the scientific literature. The process of chewing and the flavoring of the gum cause the body to react as if food is being consumed. This produces insulin, a compound that may be linked with creating memory in the hippocampus. Another result of chewing that could lead to memory improvement is increased heart rate. Increased heart rate also means increased blood flow, which, in turn, results in increased supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain (BBC News). Wrigley’s contention that gum chewing supports memory seemed to be supported by information beyond their study.

Not all members of the scientific community were satisfied with these studies and speculations. Experiments were created to reproduce Wrigley’s studies. The studies found their results to be inconsistent with Wrigley’s data. Other members of the scientific community do not deny that chewing gum stimulates glucose production and nutrient supply to the brain, but they say that these effects are not large enough to stimulate memory (Johnson, Miles). The other scientific data disproved Wrigley’s experiment and the supporting data because the results simply could not be reproduced consistently.

The idea that gum could help with memory is appealing to a student body that would like to improve its ability to memorize and learn along with enjoy the pleasures of chewing gum. If Wrigley’s was correct, then this could help people other than students. Throughout the world there are millions of people suffering from attention-deficit disorder and dementia. There are many non-drug therapies for these conditions that improve memory, attention span, and concentration. To investigate whether gum chewing improves concentration in a normal population of high school students, fifty-seven high school students were tested to see if gum could improve their scores on a test designed to assess ability to memorize figures. Each subject was surveyed twice. The results showed that there was so significant difference in the test scores between the tests taken with and without chewing gum.