If you're in the habit of chewing gum all day long, thinking it's a harmless habit, a new study now gives you a good reason to think again: researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have found that these treats tend to release significant amounts of microplastics into your saliva.
Microplastics are everywhere today. These tiny pieces of plastic, just a few micrometers in size, have colonized nearly every ecosystem on our planet, from the Mariana Trench to the atmosphere, the summit of Mount Everest, and the snow of Antarctica. In the space of just a few years, numerous studies have also proven that these particles can emerge from many everyday objects and foods, from synthetic fabrics to plastic cutting boards. And according to the authors of this pilot study, it's now time to add the famous chewing gum to this ever-growing list.
Chewing gum releases microplastics into saliva
The team tested five brands of synthetic chewing gum and five brands that offer natural gum products. Each product was first tested for four minutes by a different volunteer to see if the type of chewing, which varies from person to person, could have any significance. The guinea pigs then chewed their treats for 20 minutes while their colleagues took saliva samples every 30 seconds. The objective of this second part was to monitor the speed at which microplastics could pass from gum to saliva.
At the end of these two experiments, the authors observed that the samples contained an average of 100 plastic particles per gram of chewing gum, with peaks at 600 particles. This means that if a person consumes 160 to 180 particles per year (the average among users of this product), they could ingest approximately 30,000 such particles each year. This is a significant figure, given that another study estimated that the average human consumes a few hundred thousand of these particles per year. Another interesting finding: the vast majority of these particles appear to detach from the gum within the first two minutes of chewing. This means that to reduce their exposure to microplastics, users should chew the same gum for longer instead of replacing it as soon as it starts to lose its flavor.
It should be noted that this is a very small-scale study, and the results should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. On the other hand, it clearly shows that chewing gum releases substantial quantities of microplastics - and what happens in the mouth is probably only the tip of the iceberg. In their presentation, the researchers took the opportunity to remind everyone that it is absolutely essential to dispose of used gum in the appropriate bins, otherwise it will contribute even more to this new type of pollution.A still poorly understood impact on health
At present, the challenge remains to determine the impact of these particles on organisms. It has now been proven that they are found in countless living beings, including humans: bloodstream, placenta, brain… no tissue seems able to resist them.
A somewhat worrying dynamic, because the impact of these particles on health remains very poorly documented at present. We know that they can cause some damage at the cellular level, but we still lack the perspective to determine to what extent they truly are harmful. The authors therefore insist that it is still too early to give in to catastrophism, but nevertheless emphasize that it is urgent to increase studies on the subject.
"Our goal is not to alarm anyone," explains Sanjay Mohanty, the project's principal investigator. "Scientists don't know if microplastics are dangerous for us. There are no clinical trials on humans. But we know that we are exposed to plastic on a daily basis," he concludes.
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