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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n The UK consumes four billion pieces of gum a year. The annual global figure is 374 billion. According to market research, most people chew to freshen their breath but some use gum to suppress appetite, aid concentration and\u00a0relieve stress. It may also assist in mewing \u2013 a method of strengthening one\u2019s jawline that\u2019s popular on social media \u2013 though scientific evidence is scant.<\/p>\n After cigarette butts, gum is the second most littered item on the planet. The annual clean-up cost for councils in\u00a0the UK is around \u00a37mn. Keep Britain Tidy estimates that\u00a077 per cent of England\u2019s streets and 99 per cent of\u00a0retail sites are stained with gum. Most also contain plastic,\u00a0which is non-biodegradable. This is bad for the planet but potentially also our wellbeing. According to a\u00a0research paper from Queen\u2019s University Belfast, a single piece of conventional gum can release more than 250,000 microplastics and detectable levels of nano-plastics into our bodies, which could have health implications. The speed of nano-plastic release prompted one of the paper\u2019s\u00a0researchers to conclude: \u201cThere may not\u00a0be any safe chewing duration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Oh My Gum! cinnamon chewing gum<\/p>\n Price:<\/strong> \u00a33.25 for 10 pieces<\/p>\n BUY<\/strong><\/p>\n Such concerns have contributed to the rise of plastic-free chewing gum, which is typically made from acacia gum\u00a0or chicle (a natural tree sap). Though niche in the total $18.49bn chewing gum market, the plastic-free sector is projected to grow to $242mn by 2031.\u00a0<\/p>\n There may not be any\u00a0safe chewing duration<\/p>\n Udit Pant, Queen\u2019s University Belfast<\/p>\n Carol Proschan, founder of Simply Gum, which launched in the US in 2014 and bills itself as the \u201cfirst and original plastic-free gum\u201d, thinks we are at a turning point. \u201cThere are a lot of tailwinds in the US in terms of microplastics, general plastic awareness and\u00a0healthy eating [in part driven by] the Make America Healthy Again movement,\u201d she says. \u201cOur own surveys show when consumers know option A has plastic and option B does not, they choose option B.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Capitalising on that comparison is one reason Tom Raviv, founder of UK-based Milliways, which launched in 2021, wants plastic-free gum on shelves next to plastic-based gum at checkouts. \u201cIn-store placement is critical,\u201d he\u00a0says. \u201cGum is one of the biggest impulse buys.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nuud spearmint gum<\/p>\n Price:<\/strong> \u00a31.50 for 10 pieces<\/p>\n BUY<\/strong><\/p>\n Milliways peppermint gum<\/p>\n Price: <\/strong>\u00a31 for 10 pieces<\/p>\n BUY<\/strong><\/p>\n Underbrush remineralising gum<\/p>\n Price: <\/strong>\u00a319 for 36\u00a0pieces<\/p>\n BUY<\/strong><\/p>\n Nuud, another UK brand, has just partnered with Kids\u00a0Against Plastic on a\u00a0campaign to raise awareness. \u201cPoisoned by Plastic\u201d calls\u00a0for mandatory labelling of plastic ingredients, age restrictions, health warnings and\u00a0an\u00a0eventual UK ban. \u201cChewing gum is the only food product that contains vast quantities of plastic as an integral ingredient,\u201d says Nuud founder Keir Carnie. \u201cGiven\u00a0that 50 per cent of UK chewers are aged under 25 and plastic gum is marketed as good for young people\u2019s health, these restrictions make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n But how does plastic-free gum measure up? I tried five brands: Oh My Gum!, Simply Gum, Underbrush, Nuud and Milliways. As an occasional chewer of conventional gum, my expectations weren\u2019t always met. Some lost their flavour too soon. Others got stuck on my teeth. Nuud looked a lot closer to regular gum than the others.\u00a0<\/p>\n Simply Gum peppermint gum<\/p>\n Price:<\/strong> \u00a33.49 for 15 pieces<\/p>\n BUY<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFor health-conscious consumers who just want to freshen their breath, a [plastic-free] chewing gum with a shorter flavour span is a trade-off they\u2019re happy to make,\u201d says Oh My Gum! founder Malak Ben-Hmeda. Among its four flavours including mint, cherry and tropical, cinnamon was my preferred option. Milliways\u2019 mighty mint, spearmint and peppermint were instant sinus clearers, though the chewing pleasure was short-lived. Underbrush, which pitches itself as a \u201cremineralising\u201d gum with plaque-reducing benefits, was stiff and brittle at first but eventually\u00a0delivered a durable chew that made sense of the\u00a0recommendation to masticate for \u201can hour or more\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n My favourites were Simply Gum\u2019s, which looked like\u00a0cat\u00a0litter pellets and could be tough to start but softened into a big elastic chew. Peppermint was pleasant\u00a0but best was ginger, which lent a breath-sweetening rather than freshening effect.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to effect mass change,\u201d says Carnie, \u201cyou need to convert the mass-market consumer with a product that looks, tastes and chews like regular gum.\u201d True, but perhaps there\u2019s value in something different too.\u00a0<\/p>\n @ajesh34<\/em><\/p>\n