Everything You'll Ever Need To Know About Chewing Gum

Chewing gum is so ubiquitous and mundane that we barely notice it. Yet it was once a source of public condemnation and deadly excitement, a symbol of youthful rebellion and unspoken sexuality. 

Though people in Greece, Sweden, and beyond have been chewing natural gums for thousands of years, the world came to see it as something uniquely American. Perhaps, it's because it's always been a product of a relentlessly opportunistic, inventive, and profitable industry that became intrinsically linked with American soldiers, celebrities, and popular culture. Join us as we uncover the storied — and sometimes dark — history of chewing gum and the men who made it, and take a closer look at its ingredients, environmental impact, and the secrets behind its flavor and longevity.

To understand how it became such a ubiquitous commodity today, we must look to the ancient origins of chewing gum. Humans have been masticating for millennia. In fact, even the word "masticate" is related to mastic, the very tree that produced resin that the Greeks were chewing on around 50 A.D. Other regions relied on different plants – Indigenous North Americans favored spruce resin, while Mayans preferred chicle.

The oldest known chewing gum is birch pitch, a black, gooey substance produced by heating birch bark. Used as an adhesive since the Neanderthal era, it needed to be chewed to become more pliable. Beyond its practical use, it also had medicinal properties. Remarkably, birch pitch has preserved ancient human DNA so well that researchers have been able to study the appearance and lifestyles of its chewers– even in the absence of other human remains.

Despite humanity's long history with chewing gum, the iconic pink bubbles most of us associate with gum today did not exist before the 20th century. Bubble gum was invented in 1906, but it only became popular in 1928, when Walter Diemer, an accountant at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company with an inventive streak, developed Dubble Bubble. Unlike its competitors, Diemer's gum was smooth, flexible, and perfect for blowing bubbles. As for how bubble gum's signature color came to be? At the time, pink was the only dye available to Diemer.

Bubble gum also has a different chemical structure compared to chewing gum, containing less gum base (15-20% compared to chewing gum's 20-25%), and more sugar. However, the less sugar remains, the bigger your bubble can get. So for truly impressive bubbles, chew your gum as long as possible.

Before Chiclets, Wrigley's, and Beech-Nut, there was spruce gum. It was introduced to the European settlers in the early 1600s by the Northeastern Indigenous peoples who used it medicinally. As the timber industry grew, so did the use of spruce resin, which lumbermen collected for extra income. In 1850, John Baker Curtis turned it into America's first commercially produced gum. His State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum was an instant hit, earning him $5,000 in its first year. By 1866, he had built the first American chewing gum factory.

However, spruce gum's popularity went into sharp decline after its superior chicle-based competitors took over the market. At the same time, the supply of spruce trees dwindled due to heavy logging for newspaper production, sealing the fate of spruce gum.

The foundation of the global chewing gum industry began with an unlikely 1869 meeting between an exiled Mexican president and an ambitious American inventor. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a key figure in the Battle of Alamo, then in exile in Staten Island, sought to fund his return to power by selling Mexican chicle as a cheap rubber substitute. That's when he was introduced to Thomas Adams, a former wartime photographer. Adams set out on Santa Anna's mission, but after months of failed experiments, they parted ways.

However, Adams didn't stop experimenting and, eventually, it hit him: chicle could become the next spruce gum, only better. He went on to popularize it with creative marketing, added flavors, and the invention of a machine that sped up production, transforming the industry in more ways than one.

The biggest chewing gum empire started with soap. Having peddled his father's soap since he was 13, William Wrigley Jr. added a side of baking powder as an incentive when he went solo. This proved to be such a success that baking powder became the main product, and chewing gum took its place as an incentive by the 1890s. The scheme worked again, and Wrigley focused on chewing gum, introducing Juicy Fruit and Spearmint in 1893.

The next decades of his life leading up to his becoming a multimillionaire read like a marketing textbook. He pioneered audience segmentation, direct marketing, and eye-catching electric billboards. At one point, he was the largest advertiser in the U.S., saturating the market with ads and arranging for gum to be placed at checkout counters– a tactic still used today.

At the turn of the 20th century, as public advertising expanded rapidly, gum manufacturers made bold claims about its benefits. They tried to appeal to women by portraying gum as a way to stave off wrinkles, tone their facial muscles, and make their lips more beautiful. Mid-century sugar-free gum ads promised to help women "lose those ugly, fatty bulges" by curbing their appetite — something that surely wouldn't fly today, yet this appetite-reducing image stuck for decades.

Ironically, similar tactics still target men. Gen Z boys on TikTok are now sold "facial gums" with promises of a chiseled jawline. This jaw-strengthening myth can be traced to a 1920s tale of Jack Dempsey winning a boxing match by breaking his opponent's thumb with his gum-trained jaw.

Remember Thomas Adams? The man who turned the sap of the sapodilla tree, a.k.a. chicle, into a mainstay of American gum production? His inventive streak didn't stop there. Chewing gum has always been shelf-stable; it was only natural for it to become one of the first edible items to be sold in a vending machine. In 1888, Adams invented a gum-dispensing machine, the first of its kind (followed up by the iconic gumball machines in 1907).

This coin-operated device, installed at New York City train stations, sold Adams' Tutti-Frutti gum, which he promoted heavily with outdoor advertising on Broadway. Its invention created hassle-free sales opportunities everywhere foot traffic was heavy. From this point onwards, gum fully permeated public spaces, further establishing its image as an accessible everyday item, and a source of on-the-go instant gratification.

Teenagers have been chewing gum forever, as evidenced by DNA found in 10,000-year-old wads of birch gum. Back then, chewing was mostly utilitarian, creating an adhesive for tools. But by the 19th century, when gum became hedonic, chewing it in public was seen as uncultured and impolite, especially for young women. In 1890, one doctor even claimed it causes insanity in girls. Decades later, etiquette specialist Emily Post condemned it as unladylike. Schools in the U.S. and the U.K. soon began banning it.

In a feat of reverse psychology, all this only made gum cooler. Defying authority gave it a rebellious (as well as vaguely sexual) edge that was cemented in movies of the 1970s-90s (think "Grease," "Breakfast Club," "Clueless"). However, in today's world, with health and environmental awareness rising, chewing plastic is no longer cool.

Ever wondered what the world was like before barcodes? They've changed the course of shopping forever, yet we barely notice them. Even though they first appeared in 1949, it took decades before microcomputers and laser technology advanced enough to make them commonplace. Fittingly, the world's first scanned barcode was on a pack of gum, another ubiquitous everyday item we pay little attention to.

Before the 1970s, supermarket lines were much slower, since clerks had to manually enter prices into registers. That changed when the National Cash Register Company and Spectra-Physics, Inc. introduced a barcode scanner. To show off its precision, a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum — the smallest item available — was selected, making it the first barcode-containing product to be scanned at a supermarket in 1974, etching it in retail history.

Despite having long been associated with military forces, mass production of gum for soldiers began only during World War I. A staple of American military rations thanks to its oral health benefits and its ability to relieve stress, it was a valuable humanitarian aid in Europe. Gum remained in military rations during World War II, which skyrocketed domestic production and caused shortages, leading to the development of synthetic gum base alternatives in the 1950s.

During this time, American GIs introduced sweets-deprived British kids to chewing gum. It became a sought-after treat, often exchanged with the playful phrase, "Got any gum, chum?" All this allowed gum to permeate the civilian market in continental Europe, which was largely unfamiliar with — or disapproving of — it. What was once seen as frivolous and impolite was now viewed as patriotic in the U.S. and aspirational in Europe.

Liquid center, flavor crystals, dragee coating, high-intensity sweeteners — despite these innovations, bubble gum's flavor is still notoriously short-lived. Made up of insoluble gum base and enhanced with sweeteners and flavors, it can't help but react with your saliva, leaving behind a tasteless wad after mere minutes.

But what if the problem is us, not the gum? Our perception of flavor is easily affected, especially when we engage with food in an unusual way. No other foodstuff remains in our mouths as long as gum does. This overwhelms our taste receptors, and they become less sensitive to its flavor. Making gum flavor last longer is easy: take it out, drink some water to rinse your tastebuds, and chew on it again.

Long before the Cold War, communist propaganda was fiercely anti-capitalist–and, by extension, anti-American. Something as American as gum inevitably fell victim to it. Leon Trotsky even claimed it was designed to dull the minds of the working class. While the USSR never officially banned gum, it was both unwelcome and unavailable. When rare pieces made their way in as the Iron Curtain lifted, children cherished and even reused them.

No wonder, then, that when foreign visitors handed out Wrigley's gum at a 1975 junior hockey match in Moscow between Soviet and Canadian teams, excitement ran so high it turned deadly. In the chaos, the stadium lights went out, causing a stampede that killed 21 people, most of them children. The sad irony is that it took this tragedy to jumpstart domestic gum production.

Throughout history, chewing gum has had its share of adversaries, but few were as effective as Singapore's government. Talks of banning chewing gum started in the '80s, but when gum vandalism threatened the newly built Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) in the summer of 1991, measures were taken almost immediately. By January 1992, all sales and imports of chewing gum were outlawed, and perpetrators were facing fines of S$2,000–20,000 ($1,500–15,000) and even jail time for serious offenses.

The impact was immediate; littering cases dropped from 525 to just two per day within a year. Though U.S. pressure led to a partial lift in 2004, allowing strictly regulated sales of dental and nicotine gum in pharmacies, the ban largely remains. To this day, chewing gum cannot legally enter Singapore, even as prescribed medication for personal use.

At its inception, the chewing gum industry was fully dependent on imports of sapodilla tree sap. By the early 20th century, major U.S. manufacturers like Wrigley, Beech-Nut, and American Chicle were already making millions while exerting tremendous control over chicle extraction in Central America. Mexico was the main supplier – by 1915, it provided 75% of U.S. chicle imports– though Guatemala and Belize also contributed.

The industry was deeply exploitative: chicleros were impoverished, profits stayed with contractors, middlemen, and U.S. companies, and deforestation worsened as demand surged during the World Wars. It was also unsustainable: by the 1930s, overharvesting had destroyed 25% of Mexico's sapodilla trees. When synthetic alternatives emerged to meet growing consumer demand, Mexican exports plummeted. In 1952, Wrigley — the sole buyer of Guatemalan chicle — stopped imports, collapsing the local industry. As a result, entire livelihoods and economies were uprooted by mere shifts in demand.

For most of its history, chewing gum was made of all-natural ingredients, namely, tree sap. However, as its production grew to a full-scale industrial behemoth in the 20th century, natural resources could no longer meet the demand. Manufacturers switched to petrochemicals and plastic polymers to sustain production while enhancing flavor and texture. Wax softens gum, glycerol extends its shelf life, and synthetic rubbers provide elasticity — but these benefits come at a cost.

Modern gum, with its styrene-butadiene, polyethylene, and polyvinyl acetate is chemically closer to car tires, carrier bags, and cheap furniture than to its century-old predecessors. It's a source of ingestible microplastics and non-biodegradable trash. While swallowing gum won't harm you, it leaves a lasting mark — not just in your body, but on the planet, where it lingers for years.

Aggressive marketing and opportunism have been ingrained in the chewing gum industry from the start. William Wrigley Jr. famously capitalized on the 1907 recession, doubling down on advertising when people sought small, affordable pleasures. New demographics and markets were conquered as gum spread during both World Wars.

The 2020s posed a new challenge: with less in-person socializing and more face masks — plus a shift to online shopping — gum sales dropped 22% to $2.5 billion in 2020. Though they rebounded to $3.4 billion by 2024, gum is losing relevance. It's no longer cool or rebellious, and health and environmental concerns deter buyers. But for gum producers, declining interest is just another creative business opportunity. Wrigley launched a Hubba Bubba Skittles hybrid to attract Gen Z, Maax Brands developed a performance-enhancing caffeine gum and Simply went back to basics with chicle-based gum.

Most of us know chewing gum as a breath-freshening, sweet, or minty treat meant for casual consumption, but for some people, it serves a greater purpose. The ancient legacy of self-medicating with tree resin lives on in functional gums. Dentyne, introduced in 1899, was the first dental gum with reduced sugar. By 1924, Aspergum, which contains aspirin, became the first medicated chewing gum (MCG), offering pain relief.

Today, plenty of MCGs are available, used for anything from delivering vitamins and reducing cavities and food cravings to rescinding smoking, relieving pain, and treating motion sickness. They are a convenient kid-friendly self-medication, as well as a gentler alternative to pills. As saliva gradually releases the active ingredients, the stomach is spared from direct exposure to high drug concentrations, reducing gastric discomfort and making MCGs an innovative drug-delivery system.

Picture this: you put on shorts you haven't worn since last summer and find a pack of gum in the pocket. There's no expiration date on it, but you can tell it's still edible — just not as fresh. Gum is notoriously long-lasting, which has fueled the myth that swallowing it means it will "stick to your stomach for seven years." In reality, it passes through in about 40 hours only to continue its eternal existence elsewhere.

The reason chewing gum doesn't really expire is both legal and scientific. Its lack of moisture and reactive substances make gum unlikely to spoil in a way that would pose serious health risks, exempting it from having expiration dates. So should you ever stock an emergency pantry with extremely long-lasting foods, make sure to include chewing gum on your list.

Long gone are the days when chewing gum was entirely plant-based and all-natural. Today the seemingly innocent treat that is gum can contain a number of weird ingredients. Wool, cartilage, bones, and insect debris all creep into the mix as lanolin, gelatin, shellac, and carmine. And if that wasn't enough, there are a few ingredients, such as lecithin or glycerin that can be either plant- or animal-derived, but labels don't always specify. Animal ingredients will also sneak into ingredient lists under unfamiliar names. For example, Recaldent-containing gum isn't dairy-free because that's just another name for casein, a milk protein many vegans are familiar with.

Luckily, plenty of vegan-friendly gums are available. Safe choices include Wrigley's, Hubba Bubba, Dubble Bubble, and Eclipse. However, if you're avoiding animal products, steer clear of Trident, crystal-flavored Extra, and Mentos 3 Layer.

Despite some health benefits that chewing gum brings to the table, its consumption is also full of risks that you probably didn't know about. Yes, chewing gum may affect your stress levels and help you relax, but it can also cause tension, migraines, and jaw problems. Yes, it's a lovely way to support your dental health and freshen your breath in the absence of a toothbrush, but it can also cause cavities if it's not sugar-free. Yes, it might curb your food cravings, but it can also increase them while worsening acid reflux, as your digestive juices are produced in vain. 

What's more, some brands contain potentially carcinogenic butylated hydroxytoluene, and sorbitol that can act as a laxative. Not to mention chewing gum can be a choking hazard. So chew gum responsibly and in moderation.