Chewing gum , commonly known as chewing gum, is a chewy gum with a sweet flavor. It is generally made with a neutral plastic base (polyvinyl acetate or xanthan rubber), which is what gives it its elasticity that amuses everyone who chews it.
It is a very popular treat for adults and children. There are thousands of different flavors and colors of chewing gum, for all tastes.
Summary
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- 1 Story
- 2 Manufacturing
- 3 Advantages of chewing gum
- 4 Disadvantages of chewing gum
- 5 Source
History
Its origin dates back to prehistory, in the year 50 BC, the ancient Greeks chewed entina resin. The Mayans also chewed chikozapote sap , or better known as chewing gum. Both the Mayas and the Aztecs used chewing gum to clean their teeth , and distract hunger and thirst for a while.
Chewing gum dates back to civilizations around the world, the modernization and commercialization of this product took place mainly in the United States.
The popular name of chewing gum originally from the word (Nahuatl tzictli) which is a gummy polymer that is obtained from the sap of the Manilkara zapota , a tree of the family of the sapotaceae formerly called as Sapota zapotilla or Achras zapota originating from Mexico, Central America and tropical South America. Due to its sweet and aromatic flavor, many Amerindian peoples used it for chewing.
In 1848 John B. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. In this way, the industrialized West, which had forgotten about tree gums, rediscovered chewing gum through the early Americans. Around [[1850, a gum made from paraffin wax, a petroleum product, was developed and soon surpassed fir gum in popularity.
The first flavored gum was created in the 1860s by John Colgan, a pharmacist from Louisville, Kentucky. Colgan mixed powdered sugar with tolu, a powdered flavoring obtained from the extract of the Myroxylon balsam tree
Modern chewing gum was first developed in the 1860s , when former President Antonio López de Santa Anna brought the chewing gum from Mexico to New York, where he gave it to Thomas Adams to use as a substitute for rubber. Chewing gum was not successful as a replacement for rubber, but as chewing gum, which was cut into strips and marketed as “Adams New York Chewing Gum” in 1871 . Licorice-flavored Black Jack 1884 chewing gum , 1899 Chiclets and Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum were the first popular brands to quickly dominate the market and still exist today.
Manufacturing
Currently the chewing gum is no longer made with the resin of the chicozapote tree, but with synthetic materials to which flavorings, sweeteners and colorants are added.
You can find them in boxes, tablets, bars, with or without sugar; weight gum balls that slide into our hands from a round and transparent machine; spicy gum, with and without filling, refreshing, soft, intense and of course of all colors, and it is even found as an accompaniment to other sweets, such as ice cream, lollipops and caramels, which makes it one of the most consumed sweets of the planet.
Advantages of chewing gum
- Helps prevent cavities
- Accelerates metabolism
- Reduces anxiety and stress
- Increase mental capacity
Disadvantages of chewing gum
- Although we have said that it is an advantage for oral health, if the chewing gums have sugar they can cause the opposite effect, especially in children, promoting the genesis of caries. With a good cleaning after consumption it can be avoided.
- Weight reduction
- Jaw pain
- Its consumption in excess can produce gastritis, colic, intestinal gases.
- The bad habit (less and less) of throwing the gum on the floor, apart from the unpleasant moment of stepping on it, can have health consequences by becoming a focus of germs with which pets or children can come into contact.
