PUR gum is one of the healthier chewing gum options available. It’s sweetened entirely with xylitol, a sugar alcohol with a glycemic index of just 7 (compared to about 60 for regular sugar), and it skips aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that many people prefer to avoid. Its ingredient list is short: xylitol, gum base, gum arabic, natural flavors, glycerol, malic acid, citric acid, carnauba wax, and tocopherols (a form of vitamin E used as a preservative).
That said, “healthy” depends on what you’re hoping to get out of it. Here’s what the ingredients actually do in your body.
Real Benefits for Your Teeth
The biggest health claim behind PUR gum is its dental benefit, and this one holds up well. Xylitol actively fights the bacteria most responsible for cavities. When the main cavity-causing bacteria in your mouth, Streptococcus mutans, tries to consume xylitol the way it would regular sugar, it can’t extract any energy from it. The bacteria burns through its own energy trying to process and expel the xylitol, essentially starving itself in the process. Over time, this reduces the population of harmful bacteria in your saliva and plaque.
The cavity reduction numbers from clinical research are significant. One long-term study found that regular use of xylitol chewing gum reduced cavity risk by 59%. When researchers compared xylitol gum to sorbitol gum (the sweetener used in most sugar-free gums), the xylitol group developed 27% fewer cavities. In a study looking at children, cavity occurrence was 71% lower in a xylitol group compared to a group receiving fluoride varnish treatments. Chewing any gum stimulates saliva flow, which helps wash away food particles and neutralize acid, but xylitol adds an antibacterial layer on top of that mechanical benefit.
Blood Sugar and Calorie Impact
PUR gum contains zero sugar, and xylitol has negligible effects on blood sugar and insulin levels. With a glycemic index score of 7, xylitol barely registers compared to table sugar’s score of around 60. This makes PUR gum a non-issue for people managing diabetes or following low-carb and keto diets. Each piece of gum contains only about 2 calories, so the caloric contribution is effectively zero even if you chew several pieces a day.
Xylitol also contains roughly 40% fewer calories per gram than sugar while tasting about equally sweet. For gum specifically, this difference is trivial since you’re not swallowing the gum, but it’s part of why the product can accurately market itself as sugar-free without relying on artificial sweeteners.
What’s Not in It
Part of PUR gum’s appeal is what it leaves out. It contains no aspartame, no sucralose, no acesulfame potassium, and no artificial colors or flavors. Most mainstream sugar-free gums use aspartame or a blend of artificial sweeteners. Whether those ingredients pose real health risks at normal consumption levels is debated, but PUR sidesteps the question entirely. The gum is also marketed as vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, and dairy-free, making it accessible for people with common dietary restrictions or allergies.
Digestive Side Effects to Watch For
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, and like all sugar alcohols, it can cause bloating, gas, and diarrhea if you consume too much. Your body doesn’t fully absorb it in the small intestine, so the remainder gets fermented by gut bacteria in the large intestine, producing gas in the process.
Research on the threshold for digestive trouble found that the amount of xylitol most adults can handle without diarrhea is about 0.37 grams per kilogram of body weight for men and 0.42 grams per kilogram for women. For a 150-pound person, that works out to roughly 25 grams. Each piece of PUR gum contains about 1 gram of xylitol, so you’d need to chew through most of a pack in one sitting to reach that threshold. A few pieces throughout the day is unlikely to cause problems for most people, though some individuals are more sensitive than others. If you’re new to xylitol, starting with a few pieces a day and increasing gradually lets your gut adjust.
Serious Danger for Dogs
One health concern with PUR gum has nothing to do with humans. Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs. A dose as small as 0.1 grams per kilogram of body weight can trigger a dangerous drop in blood sugar, and doses above 0.5 grams per kilogram can cause acute liver failure. For a 20-pound dog, just two or three pieces of PUR gum could be dangerous. If you have dogs at home, store xylitol gum where they can’t reach it, and treat any accidental ingestion as a veterinary emergency.
How PUR Compares to Other Gums
Compared to regular sugar-sweetened gum, PUR is clearly the better choice for your teeth and blood sugar. Compared to other sugar-free gums, the advantage is more nuanced. Most sugar-free gums use sorbitol, which also has some cavity-fighting properties but is less effective than xylitol in clinical studies. PUR’s use of xylitol as the sole sweetener gives it a genuine edge for dental health.
The tradeoff is cost. PUR gum typically runs two to three times the price of mainstream sugar-free brands. Whether that premium is worth it depends on your priorities. If you’re chewing gum primarily for dental benefits, the xylitol-based formula offers measurable advantages. If you’re just looking for fresh breath and aren’t concerned about aspartame, a standard sugar-free gum does the job at a lower price point. PUR gum isn’t a health food in the way that vegetables or whole grains are, but as chewing gums go, it’s about as clean an option as you’ll find.