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Comment by mapcars | Hacker News Reader

People still use gum in 2024? I thought it's a wide knowledge that it's bad for you in every single way

Apparently the knowledge isn't wide enough, because this is the first I'm hearing of it... Why is gum bad for you? I knew it was in a downward sales trend, but I figured that was just consumer preferences changing over time.

Ingredients are poor for mouth and gut microbiome, but then again so is mostly everything else that's processed

Gum with sugar is bad for your teeth. Gum without sugar has xylitol in it, which is good for your teeth, but may increase your risk of heart attacks and strokes due to it promoting blood clotting[1].

1: https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2024/06/06/cleveland-cl...

Wait... gum with sugar? That exists?

Yes? Bazooka, double bubble, and big league chew off the top of my head. As well as every gum ball I've ever seen.

Not seen those brands in Sweden, but I checked the one we have that's for kids, a bubble gum named Hubba Bubba. Indeed, it has sugar! TIL.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026426/global-chewing-g...

Since you haven't seen someone chewing gum in a while, I'm now curious about where you live. North Korea? Singapore?

Why does this remind me of something out of a certain old point and click adventure game, it was one that had the verb USE apply to every type of action.

click>(GUM)

click>(SELF)

click>(USE)

"You used the GUM on yourself.

Nothing special happens.

You now have 0 GUM."

There was another game in the same genre that did the same, but with the verb OPERATE. As teenagers my friends and I used to laugh way too much at dialogue responses these games would craft, where you would get things like "OPERATE GUM on SELF"

I am pretty certain sugar-free gum is excellent for preventing cavities by increasing saliva production. That is one way it is not bad for you.

Well according to the gum brands it's good for your teeth. I've never heard of any evidence to the contrary, not even from my dentist.

I do, specifically Mastic gum.

Alright, I didn't mean the natural/medicinal gums

it's good for building up your jaw strength which can be pretty helpful.

Yes, one thing I wanted to mention was to develop/keep the jaw muscles, though eating dense enough food like nuts or dry froots does this too

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