Chewing Gum Releases Microplastics Into Your Mouth, Study Finds

Let’s be honest, plastic is everywhere, and so are microplastics. If you’re trying to keep track, we’re exposed to them through packaging, the oceans, and now…chewing gum?

Chewing Gum and Plastics

“Most of the ingestion studies related to food are contamination of food with microplastics from plastic containers, but chewing gum is the only food that is made up of plastics…We wanted to measure microplastics in chewing gum.” – Sanjay Mohanty, PhD.

Microplastics are small fragments of plastic, or rather polymers, and chewing gum contains polymers, and this article examines recent findings highlighting the link between gum and microplastics.

Sanjay Mohanty, PhD, led a study where he was the project’s principal investigator in an investigation examining and comparing microplastics in chewing gums available commercially.

What does the research say?

For the study, the researchers examined 10 types of chewing gum, five of which were types of synthetic gum, made with sweeteners and petroleum-based polymers, whilst the remaining five were ‘natural’ gums, featuring plant-based polymers, like tree sap.

The researchers then had someone chew seven pieces of gum from each brand for four minutes, producing a saliva sample every 30 seconds, before rinsing their mouths with clean water. The saliva samples were then combined into one sample. In a separate experiment, saliva samples were collected periodically over 20 minutes.

“Our initial hypothesis was that the synthetic gums would have a lot more microplastics because the base is a type of plastic,” explained Lisa Lowe, a Ph.D. student at UCLA. 

Are You Chewing Microplastics?

Per the findings, presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, CA, on average, 100 microplastics were released per gram of chewing gum, with some pieces producing up to 637 microplastics per gram (a single piece of gum weighs around 2–6 grams). Also, 94% of microplastics were released within the first eight minutes of chewing, with the act of chewing, rather than saliva, breaking down the microplastics. 

While Lowe and her fellow researchers initially suspected that the synthetic gums would contain more microplastics, the findings told a different story,

“We were not surprised to find microplastics in chewing gum, but we were surprised to find them equal amount in both synthetic and organic gum…We are perplexed by the source of microplastics in them (natural gums),” Mohanty told Healthline.

Is Chewing Gum Harmful?

Over the past few years, the health impacts of microplastics have been investigated, with one 2024 review suggesting that microplastics may cause respiratory, digestive and reproductive harm.

As for chewing gum, excessive popping may cause jaw pain, headaches, and, if they’re high in sugar, potential cavities.

Goodbye to Gum?

It should be noted that the findings are still being peer-reviewed and, once completed, will be published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters.

Also, the gum product labels and websites did not disclose either the type of gum or how they were processed, which leaves researchers “no way to know where and how microplastics came into the gums we tested,” Mohanty explained.

That said, if you’re looking to avoid gum altogether, then you’re free to as doing so could help you avoid microplastic exposure.

Want to know more?

As mentioned, microplastics are everywhere. Previous research has discovered microplastics in human blood, placentas, breast milk, and now gum. Now, if that’s not enough, microplastics may be placing the future of the human population at risk. A recent study has identified their presence in human semen. 

References

Chartres, N., Cooper, C. B., Bland, G., Pelch, K. E., Gandhi, S. A., BakenRa, A., & Woodruff, T. J. (2024). Effects of Microplastic Exposure on Human Digestive, Reproductive, and Respiratory Health: A Rapid Systematic Review. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(52), 22843. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c09524

EurekAlert! (2025). Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds. [online] Available at: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1076910?

Pratt, E. (2025). Chewing Gum Could Release Thousands of Microplastics Into Saliva, Study Finds. [online] Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/chewing-gum-microplastics-saliva-study.

Rogers, K. (2025). Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, research finds. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/25/health/gum-microplastics-study-wellness/index.html.

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