CHEWING GUM RELEASES MICROPLASTICS INTO MOUTH

Chewing gum releases hundreds of tiny plastic pieces straight into people's mouths, researchers said, also warning of the pollution created by the rubber-based sweet.

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The small study comes as researchers have increasingly been finding small shards of plastic called microplastics throughout the world, from the tops of mountains to the bottom of the ocean — and even in the air we breathe.

They have also discovered microplastics riddled throughout human bodies — including inside our lungs, blood and brains — sparking fears about the potential effect this could be having on health.

"I don't want to alarm people," said Sanjay Mohanty, the lead researcher behind the new study which has not yet been peer-reviewed. There is no evidence directly showing that microplastics are harmful to human health, said Mohanty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The pilot study instead sought to illustrate yet another little-researched way that these mostly invisible plastic pieces enter our bodies - chewing gum. Lisa Lowe, a PhD student at UCLA, chewed seven pieces each of 10 brands of gum, before the researchers then ran a chemical analysis on her saliva.