Chewing Gum Makes People Smarter

[nine_lives]

Researchers: Chewing Gum May Make People Smarter

March 13
By Jeremy Laurence

LONDON (Reuters) - The often-maligned act of chewing gum could in fact make us smarter, according to British research.

A joint study carried out by the University of Northumbria and the Cognitive Research Unit, Reading, has found that chewing gum has a positive effect on cognitive tasks such as thinking and memory.

"The results were extremely clear and specifically we found that chewing gum targeted memory," Andrew Scholey of the university's Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit said. "People recalled more words and performed better in tests on working memory."

Peppermint gum, menthol or spearmint -- it makes no difference. The key is the repetitive chewing motion.

Scholey, who was to present his findings to a symposium at the British Psychological Society's annual conference in Blackpool Wednesday, said the improved performance in a range of memory tests could be attributed to an increase in heart rate coupled with a surge in insulin to the brain.

The experiments involved 75 people split into groups of non chewers, real chewers and "sham" chewers.

Prior to undergoing the 25-minute test, the two chewing groups spent three minutes working their real or imaginary gum around their mouths.

Scholey said the tests included questions relating to short-term memory, such as recalling words and pictures, and so-called working memory, for example the ability to retain a person's telephone number. He said the heart rate of the real chewers after the tests was three beats per minute faster than the non-chewers, and 1.5 beats per minute faster than the sham chewers.

"What we think is that the mild increase in heart rate may improve the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the brain, enough to improve cognitive function," he told Reuters.

Scholey added the other possibility was that chewing gum induced a surge of insulin due to the mouth watering in anticipation of a meal.

"It is known that there are insulin receptors in areas of the brain which are important for learning and memory," he said.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service.
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I better start chewing, what are the good gums out there? I never tried one.

[Dr_Nuisance]

Originally posted by nine_lives
Researchers: Chewing Gum May Make People Smarter

March 13
By Jeremy Laurence

LONDON (Reuters) - The often-maligned act of chewing gum could in fact make us smarter, according to British research.

A joint study carried out by the University of Northumbria and the Cognitive Research Unit, Reading, has found that chewing gum has a positive effect on cognitive tasks such as thinking and memory.

"The results were extremely clear and specifically we found that chewing gum targeted memory," Andrew Scholey of the university's Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit said. "People recalled more words and performed better in tests on working memory."

Peppermint gum, menthol or spearmint -- it makes no difference. The key is the repetitive chewing motion.

Scholey, who was to present his findings to a symposium at the British Psychological Society's annual conference in Blackpool Wednesday, said the improved performance in a range of memory tests could be attributed to an increase in heart rate coupled with a surge in insulin to the brain.

The experiments involved 75 people split into groups of non chewers, real chewers and "sham" chewers.

Prior to undergoing the 25-minute test, the two chewing groups spent three minutes working their real or imaginary gum around their mouths.

Scholey said the tests included questions relating to short-term memory, such as recalling words and pictures, and so-called working memory, for example the ability to retain a person's telephone number. He said the heart rate of the real chewers after the tests was three beats per minute faster than the non-chewers, and 1.5 beats per minute faster than the sham chewers.

"What we think is that the mild increase in heart rate may improve the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the brain, enough to improve cognitive function," he told Reuters.

Scholey added the other possibility was that chewing gum induced a surge of insulin due to the mouth watering in anticipation of a meal.

"It is known that there are insulin receptors in areas of the brain which are important for learning and memory," he said.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service.
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I better start chewing, what are the good gums out there? I never tried one.

could you imagine how dumb the waitresses at those dusty roadside diners in middle America would be if they DIDN"T chew gum on the job??

[rikbe]

I can easily imagige that doing an intelligence test with a fanatic chewer besides me would influence my test in a negative sense: chewers irritate me.

[nine_lives]

1. I don't think waiters and waitresses are stupid. Chew some gum, Dr.

2. I always read it was bad to chew gum because the stomach starts secreting the juices for food processing and there is no food, so I stayed away from the gum. But then I did read that it strengthened the jaw and teeth, but decided mine was strong enough.

3. Now do I need to be smarter, that's the question.

[Dr_Nuisance]

Originally posted by nine_lives
1. I don't think waiters and waitresses are stupid. Chew some gum, Dr.

hmmm...what are trying to imply there nine-lives? I'm a little dense so hand me a stick of gum.....so I can have your views.....

[nine_lives]

So you can tell who is smart and who is not.