BETWEEN THE LINES: SCIENCE FINALLY PROVES BENEFITS OF CHEWING GUM

Sure, you can buy chewing gum that helps fight nicotine addictions, but curing a cold or boosting your memory?

An abundance of press releases and junk mail make their way into a newsroom daily. Most get filed away for future reference, which means that they pile up on reporters' desks until the annual cleaning spree.

Occasionally, amid the humdrum releases there is something worth reading. Last week, while sorting through a pile of faxes we had received, I happened upon a bizarre press release about a new kind of chewing gum.

The press release said that Stanford and Vanderbilt universities had conducted studies showing chewing gum can help boost your memory.

The press release from Gum Tech International is really an advertisement for a "brain gum" product. It's supposed to help people who are suffering from age-related memory loss.

But after reading the list of symptoms I got a little worried. Maybe I needed to give it a try.

The gum, used for 12 weeks during the study, helped participants:

-- Recognize faces.

-- Learn and remember names and faces.

-- Remember telephone numbers.

-- Remember paragraphs recently read.

-- Locate misplaced objects like glasses or keys.

-- Concentrate while reading, conversing and performing tasks.

Because I have exhibited a few of those memory-loss symptoms lately, I was just a little bit curious about how this gum could boost brain cells.

So being a good reporter, I went looking for the facts. I searched the Internet for information and came up with more news than I needed.

Gum Tech International, the company responsible for making the "brain boosting" gum has created all sorts of over-the-counter drugs in chewing gum form.

So far, they've made chewing gum that helps fight osteoporsis, control weight, boost energy, clean teeth and helps you stop smoking.

The newest gum product helps boost your brain power by giving you a phosphatidylserine supplement. Studies showed it "rolled back the clock" by 12 years for some users.

The "brain gum" was created by Brian English, a chemical engineer, who thought he was suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

He said, "If you're spacing out, losing sunglasses, misplacing keys or forgetting why you walked into a room, you're probably running a quart low."

Of course, English hopes you'll spend $59.95 for a month's supply of his gum. And then get so hooked that you'll come back for more. It not only helps boost your memory, but his income as well.

But maybe English has found a niche. If you can make chewing gum that helps fight nicotine addictions, boost memory and fight osteoporosis, then maybe the cure for cancer isn't far away.

The company's Web site also says it is working on a gum that can help fight the common cold and other health ills.

With all these added health benefits, everyone will want to start chewing gum. But where's the study that shows what happens if you swallow it?

I guess that press release got stuck in the fax machine.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.