The other day, after watching the movie “Sweet Misery” I started thinking about gum.
I’ve never been a big gum chewer, but I decided that I should go on a shopping trip and see exactly what is going on in the gum aisles these days. I was amazed by what I found.
Firstly…from what I could find at my local convenience stores, almost all gum contains aspartame, sucralose, or acesulfame-potassium (remember I’m in Canada, so the ingredients may be different then in other countries).
The interesting thing is that this includes the “sugar” gums – Even the well known “bubble gums” contain both sugar AND artificial sweeteners!
We have gotten to the point where chewing on straight sugar isn’t sweet enough anymore, we have to add artificial sweeteners to sugar to make it sweet enough for our tastes!
Secondly, and probably most shocking to me, was that several of the “bubble gums” contain hydrogenated vegetable oils in their ingredients. I had no idea that there could be trans fats in bubble gum!
Just another reason to read the labels on everything you put in your mouth.
BP
