Chewing gum has become so common that besides children and students, a large number of sportsmen, actors, politicians, executives and a large percentage of the public are using it for a number of reasons, including stress reduction, to help quit smoking, reducing food cravings, and just plain enjoyment. However for some, using chewing gum has become an addiction.

    Basically, chewing gum is a sweetened product made from chicle and similar resilient substances and designed to be chewed for its flavour and not swallowed. Its use is centuries old. Natives of the Mediterranean chewed the sweet resin of the mastic tree (so named after the custom) as a tooth cleanser and breath freshener.

    New England colonists borrowed from the Indians the custom of chewing aromatic and astringent spruce resin for similar purposes. Since long, inhabitants of the Yucatán Peninsula have chewed the latex, called chicle, of the sapodilla....