One of the reasons why I chew gum while working out is to reduce my thirst and keep my mouth moist (especially when I don’t have my water bottle). However, gum chewing has more benefits than that.
Today I will explain what chewing gum does to your body, is it good to chew gum when working out, and if so, what are the pros and cons.
As a whole, it is good to chew gum while working out because it helps to increase alertness and cognitive performance, depending on the ingredients. At the same time, chewing gum does not affect the pH of gastric juice, however, it slightly increases the gastric fluid volume, which means it can stimulate gastric emptying.
Here is the best part. Studies have shown that chewing gums during working out can increase testosterone levels (more on that later).
Chewing Gum While Working Out
A question came in on my email yesterday asking “Can I chew gum while working out?”.
This is a great question and I actually thought about the answer for a long time (before I spend hours scrolling through scientific journals and publications).
Firstly, chewing gum while working out has been a controversial topic.
People say that it is a safety hazard (mainly because you can choke while breathing hard during high-intensity workouts).
I agree.
However, please remember that there have been several studies done specifically on the effects of chewing gum while working out, running, walking, and lifting weights.
Some of these gums are sugar-free, and some contain caffeine or other stimulants.
Chewing sugar-free gum comes with many oral health benefits like a higher flow rate that promotes more rapid oral clearance of sugars, as well as plaque and extrinsic stain reduction.
It is also been reported that chewing gum improves memory, reduces nausea, or even increases alertness.
However, did you know that chewing gum while working out can make your training more effective?
Can You Workout While Chewing Gum?
In general, you can workout while chewing gum because mastication helps to stimulate sympathetic nervous activity, increases respiratory rate, and elevates energy expenditure.
It also helps to increase concentration, improve performance, and enhance attention.
Here’s the proof.
A study conducted by Dr. Yuka Hamada and his colleagues from Waseda University in Japan documented the effects of chewing gum on metabolic rate and calorie burn while walking.
A total of 46 people was randomly divided into two groups:
- Group A (Chewing gum while working out)
- Group B (Workout without chewing gum
The study was looking at how chewing gum affects heart rate, walking distance (including the number of steps), walking speed, and calories burned, compared to controls. All people walked at a natural pace for 15 minutes.
See the results in the table below.
| Chewing gum while working out | Working out without chewing gum | |
|---|---|---|
| Walking distance | 1,421 meters | 1,409 meters |
| Steps | 127 per minute | 125 per minute |
| Heart rate | 114 | 111 |
| Calories burned | 64.2 | 63.8 |
As you can see, the results have shown that chewing gum not only helps to increase the number of steps but also increases the heart rate and increases energy expenditure.
Of course, looking at these numbers, you may think that the difference is trivial.
For example, walking 125 vs 127 steps per minute seems like nothing. However, please keep in mind that the study was done only for 15 minutes.
Let’s take it into the perspective of 52 weeks.
In the table below, you can find the prediction of the same results, but from the standpoint of 60 minutes of walking (not 15 minutes), with the frequency of 6 days per week (including one day off) for 52 weeks (12 months in total).
| Chewing gum while working out | Working out without chewing gum | |
|---|---|---|
| Walking distance | 1,773,408 meters | 1,758,432 meters |
| Total steps | 2,377,440 steps | 2,340,000 steps |
| Calories burned | 80,121 | 79,622 |
As you can see, chewing gum while working out may seem not effective from the perspective of one single workout. However, if you look at the timeframe of 12 months, it leads to 37,440 more steps, compared to not chewing.
Does chewing gum while working out burn more calories?
On average, chewing gum while working out leads to higher energy expenditure and can burn 10 kcal/hour more, compared to exercise alone.
Plus, mastication has been reported to elevate heart rate by 11 beats/minute, depending on gum structure and chewing duration.
Learn more: Click here to learn more about whether should you count calories from chewing gum or not.
What happens if you chew gum while working out?
“Chewing gum while working out increases cardiac sympathetic activity and vagus nerve activity, which leads to a higher heart rate and improved systemic circulation,” says Dr. Hamada.
“The sympathetic nervous system helps to prepare the body for physical activity by elevating the respiratory rate and pumping blood into the heart, lungs, and muscles,” explains Dr. Hamada.
Dr. Hamada points a few reasons why elevated sympathetic activity before and during exercise is important:
- It increases cardiac activity
- It increases renal activity
- It increases heart rate
- It increases stroke volume
- It increases cardiac output
All these processes help to facilitate the redistribution of blood flow to the active muscles, as well as increase metabolic demands for the muscles (which is exactly what you need before and during a workout).
What you don’t need is the opposite effect (parasympathetic activity) where the heart rate drops and blood is pumped away from the muscles into the gut.
This means that a combination of exercise and chewing gum is an effective way not only to burn more calories during the workout but also as a way to prep before the workout.
Does chewing gum while working out help?
Chewing gum while working out helps because increases metabolic rate and reduces respiratory exchange ratio, which is an indicator of which fuel, carbs, or fats, are being used to supply the body with energy, according to research.
Dr. Daniel L. Kresge and his colleagues from the University of Rhode Island documented the effect of chewing gum while working out on 30 adults.
All people chewed sugar-free gum for 60 minutes on day one and did not chew gum on the second day.
“Gum chewing while working out increased respiratory exchange ratio and energy expenditure in both male and female individuals,” says Dr. Kresge.
The respiratory exchange ratio is the relationship between how much the body produces carbon dioxide vs how much oxygen it takes.
- A higher respiratory exchange ratio (around 1.0 or more) indicates that mainly carbohydrates are being used as the energy source.
- A lower respiratory exchange ratio (around 0.7) indicates that mainly lipids are being oxidized for energy.
One study has shown that the body of physically active people can uptake more oxygen, therefore, oxidize more fatty acids for fuel.
On the other hand, the same study points out that a sedentary lifestyle increases the respiratory exchange ratio, which contributes to decreased fat oxidation.
Should I chew gum while working out?
Gum chewing can potentially influence short-term energy balance, increase oxidative enzyme activity, and increase oxygen uptake, according to Dr. Kresge.
Plus, chewing gum is also associated with improved satiation and satiety.
Does chewing gum affect muscle growth?
Have you ever wondered why bodybuilders chew gum?
One study from the University of Michigan has shown that chewing gum has a positive effect on salivary testosterone and estradiol in men and women, which can affect muscle growth and strength.
(Of course, to a certain degree.)
Here are the details.
| Type of chewing gum | Testosterone before | Testosterone after |
|---|---|---|
| No Gum | 117.76 pg/mL | 110.29 pg/mL |
| Orbit Spearmint | 91.73 pg/mL | 107.27 pg/mL |
| Extra Spearmint | 85.77 pg/mL | 115.41 pg/mL |
| Dentyne Spearmint | 96.32 pg/mL | 113.85 pg/mL |
| Orbit Peppermint | 61.85 pg/mL | 105.67 pg/mL |
| Extra Peppermint | 81.40 pg/mL | 129.90 pg/mL |
| Dentyne Peppermint | 90.31 pg/mL | 106.32 pg/mL |
As you can see, chewing gum while working out not only improves the heart rate but also significantly increases acute salivary testosterone levels.
(hmm, maybe that’s why Arnold chewed gum while working out).
Plus, the results have shown that Extra Peppermint and Extra Spearmint brands were the most effective. The least effective was Orbit Spearmint and (obviously) no gum at all.
Here you can see the table results for women.
| Type of chewing gum | Testosterone before | Testosterone after |
|---|---|---|
| No Gum | 20.51 pg/mL | 19.51 pg/mL |
| Orbit Spearmint | 14.42 pg/mL | 29.29 pg/mL |
| Extra Spearmint | 16.79 pg/mL | 41.78 pg/mL |
| Dentyne Spearmint | 17.78 pg/mL | 29.61 pg/mL |
| Orbit Peppermint | 32.90 pg/mL | 25.97 pg/mL |
| Extra Peppermint | 26.04 pg/mL | 27.05 pg/mL |
| Dentyne Peppermint | 19.13 pg/mL | 34.12 pg/mL |
Does chewing gum affect strength? As a whole, there is no evidence that chewing gum while working out has a direct impact on muscular strength or power. However, caffeinated chewing gums have been shown to provide ergogenic benefits for aerobic endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and anaerobic power.
In other words, it’s not the chewing gum that helps with performance, but the caffeine. Caffeine has consistently been shown to improve exercise performance when consumed in doses of 3-6 mg/kg body mass (Guest et al. 2021).
Eating Chewing Gum While Working Out
As you can see, there is nothing wrong with chewing gum while working out. Plus, eating caffeinated chewing gum while lifting weights can reduce exercise-induced muscle pain.
A study published by Dr. Masataka Umeda from Texas Tech University tested if caffeinated chewing gum reduces muscle pain during exercise in individuals with fibromyalgia. Here are the details.
- Twenty-three patients consumed chewing gum that contains 100 mg of caffeine.
- The workout included an isometric handgrip at 25% of maximal strength.
- The exercise duration was 3 minutes.
The results (measured with muscle pain rating) have shown that chewing gum with caffeine during a workout helps to reduce exercise-induced muscle pain (Umeda et al. 2016).
Conclusion
As you can see, you can chew gum and work out at the same time. Of course, chewing food while training hard is not recommended because it stimulates digestion and parasympathetic activity.
However, chewing gum has not only has shown to kick start sympathetic response, but also leads to elevated heart rate and energy expenditure.