Mommy, where does bubble gum come from?

By Alex Altman, Senior Health Correspondent

Bubble gum ain’t what it used to be.  When I was younger Bubblicious, Chiclets, and Bazooka Joe used to be top-shelf stuff.  Sure, the flavor in a piece of Bazooka Joe only lasted ten minutes, but it was a good ten minutes brought to you by real sugar.  Today you’ll probably find these old brands collecting dust somewhere near the bottom of the candy rack at your local 7-11.  They’ve been overtaken by their “sugarless” anti-gum nemeses.  Sold in fancy flip-top boxes, these second generation chewables supposedly last a long time and don’t do any damage to your teeth. The newest kid on the block: Wrigley’s Extra Fruit Sensations.

With its ambiguous name and square cardboard box, Sweet Watermelon Extra Fruit Sensations seems like it would be equally at home next to a box of flavored condoms in the personal products aisle.  And speaking of sensory overload, the name “Fruit Sensations,” written in curvy, feminine type along with the hand written note, “long lasting fruit flavor,” are only two of seven fonts on the front of the package.

As A Hundred Monkeys’ ranking health expert, I wouldn’t be surprised if condoms contain more natural ingredients than Extra’s Sweet Watermelon gum.  I hear latex comes from trees.  Fruit Sensations, on the other hand, includes tasty additives like sorbitol, hydrogenated starch hydrosalate, hydroxylated soy lecithin, BHA and BHT in order to “maintain freshness.”  I grew up eating the uncovered, stale piece of gum that Fleer stuffed into their packs of baseball cards.  Maybe they’re taking the freshness thing a little too far.

Just to reassure you that you can actually put this stuff in your mouth, the dentists at the American Dental Association (ADA) have given it their stamp of approval…three times! It’s only fair.  If the American Heart Association endorses Honey Nut Cheerios, (something they’ve got themselves into a bit of trouble for lately) then bubble gum is fair game for the ADA.  Fruit Sensations earned the ADA’s approval because, according to the side of the gum box, “the physical action of chewing Extra sugar-free gum for 20 minutes after eating stimulates saliva flow, which helps to prevent cavities by reducing plaque acids and strengthening teeth.”

Looks like there’s no need to brush your teeth anymore.