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For many of us it might be hard to digest that chewing gum can be a heartburn remedy. Chewing gum has intrinsically been used for masking foul breath. However, numerous trials in the recent past have found that it could actually assist in alleviating the symptoms of heartburn or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).
When one chews on 1-2 gum pieces, it appears to aid in forcing juices back inside the abdomen & flooding the esophageal area with alkalic saliva, neutralising acids which are causal to the typical burning feeling that sufferers complain about.
An autonomous trial illustrating the same, appeared six years back in ‘The Journal of Dental Research’, entailed thirty-one symptomatic heartburn patients that were enlisted for tests subsequent to them visiting London’s Saint Thomas Hosp.
The researchers admitted that their conjecture when starting the trial was that chewing gums didn’t have any upshot on the reflux clearing from the distal one to two centimetres of esophagus. In due course, the researchers were astounded by what they found out. During duo different days, they requested entrants on fasting for 4 hours, followed by feeding them a meal which could trigger GERD symptoms in almost any person – duo wedges 100% cheddar-cheese, duo tbsp mayonnaise drizzled over a salad of greens, fifteen big chips & eight US fluid ounces of whole milk. During these 2 days, a number of the trial entrants were then arbitrarily chosen for chewing sugar-less gum for thirty minutes post-meal.
The study participants were monitored for 2 hours post-meals by the researchers who noted that acidic levels were notably lesser when the entrants were chewing gum.
The same feature was highlighted during a trial done during 2001 that enrolled thirty-seven individuals, several of whom were identified GERD patients & other ones that were healthful palliatives. The trial observed that munching on sugar-free gums for sixty minutes following a king-size breakfast lowered heartburn symptoms in the duo sets for nearly 3 hours, especially in the GERD set of entrants. The trial substantiating chewing gum as a heartburn remedy was conducted by specialists in gastroenterology from Illinois & N. Mexico.
Often munching on sugared chewing gums could have a damaging effect on teeth enamel & increase cavity formation. However, sugar-less xylitol-based types of chewing gums that aid in inhibiting tooth-corroding bacterial forms could have a shielding impact.
