Chewing Gum Is Beneficial During Pregnancy : About 150 million women are pregnant on any given day worldwide, making it one of the significant health treatments universally relevant in any country in the world. While pregnancies are treated differently depending on which part of the world you’re in, women across the globe experience similar challenges associated with their pregnancy.
Women can experience physical discomforts; morning sickness, fatigue, back pain, headaches, indigestion, heartburn, constipation, or varicose veins. They are also prone to experience changes in body image: weight gain, stretch marks, and changes in breast size and shape.
These changes can be difficult to adjust to, both physically and emotionally. On the latter side, pregnancy can also cause a range of emotional changes, such as mood swings, anxiety, and depression. These changes are caused by hormonal fluctuations and the stress of adjusting to a new body and a new role as a mother. And this doesn’t even address the wide variety of medical complications a woman might encounter, such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, and preterm labor. These complications can be serious and may require hospitalization.
An entire industry is dedicated to not just solving, but also preventing many of the challenges that women deal with during their pregnancy, from medication to exercise, self-help books and support groups.
One underrated helper during any woman’s pregnancy is sugar-free chewing gum. An item long only seen as a distracting confectionery has actually been determined as an important item:
- Morning sickness: Chewing gum can help to relieve nausea and vomiting by stimulating the production of saliva. Saliva helps to neutralize stomach acid and can also help to remove food particles from the back of the throat.
- Heartburn: Chewing gum can help to relieve heartburn by increasing the production of saliva and swallowing. This can help to move stomach acid back down into the stomach.
- Constipation: Chewing gum can help to relieve constipation by stimulating the digestive system. The act of chewing gum can help to increase peristalsis, which is the movement of food through the digestive tract.
- Bad breath: Chewing gum can help to freshen breath by removing food particles and bacteria from the mouth.
- Stress: Chewing gum can help to relieve stress by providing a distraction and by stimulating the production of endorphins, which are hormones that have mood-boosting effects.
Adding to that, chewing gum is also associated with early recovery of bowel motility and shorter hospitalization time for women after cesarean section. Six randomized controlled trials and 939 women had been included in that 2014, with no negative side effects found to be caused by chewing gum. Another 2016 study found similar results: “The available evidence suggests that gum chewing in the immediate postoperative period after a CS is a well-tolerated intervention that enhances early recovery of bowel function.” Following a CS, chewing gum is also connected with improved gastrointestinal function, providing “a socially acceptable, low-cost and safe intervention to reduce post-cesarean delivery”.
A study by American researchers from just last year used data from over 10,000 pregnant women in Malawi and found that those who chewed sugar-free xylitol-containing chewing gum were 25 percent less likely to experience preterm births. On top of that, the study also found that the observed women had better oral health overall, with decreased instances of periodontal disease.
Any pregnant woman – and incidentally, through the stress-reducing function of chewing gum, their partners as well – should consider stocking up on sugar-free chewing gum for the time of their pregnancy.
Author:
Elizabeth Hicks is the U.S Affairs Analyst at the Consumer Choice Center.
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