Chewing gum raises your metabolic rate by roughly 10 to 15 percent above resting levels, which sounds impressive until you do the math. For most people sitting at a desk, that translates to somewhere around 11 extra calories per hour of continuous chewing. Over the course of a day, even a dedicated gum chewer would burn fewer extra calories than are in a single stick of regular gum. The story gets more interesting, though, when you look at what happens after meals, during walking, and in terms of appetite.
The Direct Calorie Cost of Moving Your Jaw
A 2022 study published in Science Advances measured the energy cost of chewing tasteless, odorless gum and found that it elevates metabolic rate by 10 to 15 percent above basal levels, with stiffer gum demanding more energy because it recruits more muscle fibers.1PubMed Central. The cost of chewing: The energetics and evolutionary significance of mastication in humans To put that in perspective, your resting metabolic rate while sitting quietly is roughly one calorie per minute. A 10 to 15 percent bump adds maybe 6 to 9 extra calories in an hour. That is real, measurable energy expenditure, but it is vanishingly small compared to almost any other physical activity.
One earlier study reported even higher numbers under controlled lab conditions, finding that energy expenditure rose by about 19 percent from baseline when participants chewed gum vigorously at a forced pace of 100 times per minute.2PubMed Central. Gum chewing while walking increases fat oxidation and energy expenditure Nobody chews that fast in real life, so the 10 to 15 percent range is more representative of what you would actually experience. The honest answer is that an hour of gum chewing burns somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 extra calories, give or take a few depending on your size and how hard you are chewing.
Chewing Speed and Gum Stiffness Change the Numbers
Not all chewing is created equal. Research on chewing speed found that slow, deliberate chewing uses more energy per bite than fast chewing. The energy cost per individual chewing cycle was about twice as high during slow chewing compared to fast chewing, because each slow cycle involves a longer, more forceful muscle contraction.3Taylor & Francis Online / Acta Odontologica Scandinavica. Effect of chewing speed on energy expenditure in healthy subjects The catch is that fast chewing packs more cycles into each minute, so the overall calorie-burn rate per minute ends up about the same regardless of speed. You cannot game the system by chewing faster or slower.
Gum stiffness, on the other hand, does change things. When researchers compared hard gum to soft gum, the power output of the jaw-closing muscles, jaw-opening muscles, and even the neck muscles all increased significantly with the harder gum.4PubMed Central. Coordinated features in jaw and neck muscle activities induced by chewing of soft and hard gum in healthy subjects Greater muscle recruitment means greater energy expenditure. This aligns with the Science Advances finding that stiffer gum demands more metabolic effort.1PubMed Central. The cost of chewing: The energetics and evolutionary significance of mastication in humans So if you genuinely wanted to maximize calories burned from chewing, you would pick the firmest gum you can find. The difference is still tiny in absolute terms, but it is there.
The After-Meal Thermogenesis Effect
The more interesting metabolic finding is not about the calories burned by jaw muscles. It is about what chewing does to your body’s heat production after eating. Your body always burns some extra energy digesting and processing food, a phenomenon called diet-induced thermogenesis. Chewing gum after a meal appears to amplify this process.
A study in Obesity found that chewing gum after eating increased diet-induced thermogenesis compared to not chewing, and this held true regardless of whether participants had eaten quickly or slowly.5PubMed. Effect of postprandial gum chewing on diet-induced thermogenesis A separate experiment went further, trying to tease apart whether it was the physical act of chewing or just having something in your mouth. The researchers had people either chew gum, hold a liquid in their mouths (tasting without chewing), or swallow it immediately. Both the chewing and tasting conditions boosted thermogenesis above the control, with the chewing group showing elevated heat production for up to 90 minutes after eating.6PubMed Central. Chewing increases postprandial diet-induced thermogenesis The researchers concluded that oral stimulation itself, not just the food reaching the stomach, drives part of this thermic response.
This effect is distinct from the jaw-muscle calorie burn. It is a systemic metabolic response triggered by sensory signals from the mouth. Chewing gum essentially tricks one part of the digestive system into thinking more food is being processed. But while the effect is statistically real in lab settings, the absolute number of extra calories is still small, likely in the single digits per meal.
What Chewing Triggers in Your Digestive System
Chewing gum activates what researchers call the cephalic phase response, a set of preparatory signals the brain sends to the gut before food even arrives. Your body starts ramping up stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and certain hormones just from the act of chewing and tasting. One study found that chewing seven sticks of gum over 15 minutes stimulated gastric acid secretion at about 36 percent of maximum capacity, nearly identical to what happened when participants chewed and spit out an actual cheeseburger.7PubMed. Chewing gum is as effective as food in stimulating cephalic phase gastric secretion Your stomach does not know the difference between gum and a burger as far as the initial acid response goes.
Chewing gum also bumps up heart rate and blood pressure. Research on cardiovascular responses found that gum chewing increased both heart rate and mean arterial pressure through changes in the autonomic nervous system, specifically by shifting the balance of sympathetic and vagal activity in the heart.8PubMed. Circulatory response and autonomic nervous activity during gum chewing Another study confirmed that heart rate rises during chewing but returns to baseline as soon as you stop.9PubMed. Effects and after-effects of chewing gum on vigilance, heart rate, EEG and mood These cardiovascular changes contribute to the slightly elevated energy expenditure, but again, the magnitude is modest. Your body is doing a little more work, not a lot more.
Does Chewing Gum Actually Reduce How Much You Eat?
This is where the question starts to matter practically. Burning 11 extra calories an hour is irrelevant for weight management. But if chewing gum reduced your appetite enough to skip a 200-calorie snack, that would be meaningful. The evidence here is genuinely mixed.
A systematic review of nine randomized controlled trials found that the majority reported appetite-suppressing effects. Five out of seven trials showed reduced hunger, three out of five showed reduced desire to eat, and three out of four showed reduced craving for sweet snacks.10PubMed Central. Effects of Chewing Gum on Satiety, Appetite Regulation, Energy Intake, and Weight Loss: A Systematic Review However, the same review concluded that effects on actual energy intake and weight loss were not conclusive. Feeling less hungry does not always translate to eating less.
Individual trials show a consistent pattern. One study had 60 participants chew gum or not before being offered snacks, and found that the gum group ate about 8 to 9 percent fewer snack calories.11Appetite. Short-term effects of chewing gum on snack intake and appetite Another study in 50 women found that intermittent gum chewing after lunch suppressed hunger and reduced carbohydrate-rich snack intake, though the overall reduction in total snack calories (about 9 percent) fell just short of statistical significance.12PubMed. Short-term effects of chewing gum on satiety and afternoon snack intake in healthy weight and obese women There may be a hormonal component: fasting gum chewing raised blood levels of GLP-1, a gut hormone involved in satiety signaling, and participants reported feeling fuller.13PubMed Central. The effect of gum chewing on blood GLP-1 concentration in fasted, healthy, non-obese men
The pattern across studies is that gum chewing reliably makes people report feeling less hungry and often shifts what they eat, particularly reducing high-carbohydrate snacking. But the total calorie reductions are small and inconsistent. If gum helps you personally avoid reaching for a candy bar at 3 p.m., that is a real benefit. Just do not expect it to work like a reliable calorie-cutting tool.
The Weight Loss Trial That Settled the Question
The strongest evidence on whether gum chewing actually leads to weight loss comes from a randomized controlled trial that directly tested the idea. Overweight and obese adults were assigned to either chew gum on a regular schedule or not, for eight weeks. The result was definitive: there were virtually no changes in weight or body mass index in either group.14PubMed. Randomized controlled trial of chewing gum for weight loss Regular gum chewing did not facilitate weight loss over two months.
This should not be surprising given the math. Even if you chewed gum for three hours a day and burned 30 to 40 extra calories above what you would have burned sitting still, that adds up to roughly a pound of fat every three months, assuming everything else stays equal, which it never does. Your body adjusts energy expenditure in other ways, and 30 to 40 calories is well within the noise of daily intake variation. A single extra bite of food at dinner wipes out an entire afternoon of chewing.
Chewing Gum While Walking
One genuinely interesting finding is that chewing gum during walking appears to increase energy expenditure beyond what either activity produces alone. Multiple studies from the same research group found that participants who chewed gum while walking at their natural pace covered more distance, took more steps, walked faster, and burned more calories compared to participants who swallowed a tablet with the same ingredients but did not chew.15PubMed Central. Gum chewing while walking increases walking distance and energy expenditure: A randomized, single-blind, controlled, cross-over study The effect was most pronounced in participants over 40, where walking distance, speed, stride length, and energy expenditure all rose significantly during the gum trial.16PubMed Central. The effects of gum chewing while walking on physical and physiological functions
The proposed explanation is that the rhythmic jaw movement synchronizes with and slightly accelerates walking cadence, possibly through the same autonomic arousal that raises heart rate during chewing. The extra calories burned come not from the jaw muscles but from walking a little faster and a little farther without consciously trying to. If you are someone who takes daily walks, this is a more interesting route to extra calorie burn than sitting and chewing. The difference is still modest, but at least it compounds on top of real exercise.
Side Effects of Heavy Gum Chewing
If you are considering chewing gum all day for any perceived metabolic benefit, there are reasons to be cautious. A systematic review on gum chewing and jaw problems found a dose-response relationship: more frequent and longer gum chewing was associated with more symptoms of temporomandibular disorders, including muscle discomfort and jaw muscle hypertrophy.17PubMed Central. Association of temporomandibular disorders and other jaw anomalies in chewing gum users—a systematic review If you already have jaw pain, clicking, or tightness, adding hours of gum chewing is likely to make things worse.
There are gastrointestinal effects too. Gum chewing increases saliva swallowing, and in people prone to excessive belching, it also increases air swallowing.18PubMed. Effect of gum chewing on air swallowing, saliva swallowing and belching A randomized trial in post-surgical patients found that the gum-chewing group had significantly more bloating, indigestion, and eructation (the clinical term for burping) compared to the non-gum group, with 13 percent experiencing these symptoms versus 2 percent in the control group.19PubMed. A prospective randomized controlled trial of sugared chewing gum on gastrointestinal recovery after major colorectal surgery in patients managed with early enteral feeding Sugar-free gum adds another concern: sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol can cause bloating, gas, and diarrhea at moderate doses, which is well-established enough that it barely needs belaboring. If you have ever eaten too many sugar-free candies, you already know.
Flavor, Cerebral Blood Flow, and Why Mint Gum Feels Different
An overlooked aspect of gum chewing is what flavor does to the brain. A study using transcranial Doppler and near-infrared spectroscopy found that chewing flavored gum (with both taste and odor) increased cerebral blood flow significantly more than chewing unflavored gum, even though the jaw muscles were working equally hard in both conditions.20PLOS ONE. Flavor-Enhanced Modulation of Cerebral Blood Flow during Gum Chewing The flavor itself, independent of the mechanical act of chewing, drives additional brain activation. This probably explains why flavored gum feels more alerting and satisfying than a plain rubber base would. It also means that the subjective experience of chewing gum, the sense that it is “doing something,” is partly a flavor-driven brain response rather than a metabolic one.
What Chewing Cost Our Ancestors
For modern humans eating cooked and processed food, chewing is a rounding error in the daily energy budget. But for our evolutionary ancestors eating raw, tough plant material and unprocessed meat, the metabolic cost of chewing was almost certainly much higher. The Science Advances study that measured the 10 to 15 percent metabolic increase from chewing gum pointed out that early hominins, who lacked cooking and sophisticated food preparation, would have spent far more time and energy chewing each day.1PubMed Central. The cost of chewing: The energetics and evolutionary significance of mastication in humans The researchers argued that the caloric cost of mastication adds an underappreciated dimension to why hominin jaw and facial structures evolved the way they did. The robust jaws and massive molars of species like Paranthropus boisei start to make even more sense when you consider that chewing was not just a mechanical problem but an energetic one. The invention of cooking, by softening food and reducing the need for prolonged chewing, may have freed up calories that could be redirected toward fueling a larger brain.