Gum base

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gum base is the non-nutritive, non-digestible, water-insoluble masticatory delivery system used to carry sweeteners, flavors and any other desired substances in chewing gum and bubble gum. It provides all the basic textural and masticatory properties of gum.

The exact composition of gum bases is usually a trade secret, but common ingredients can be latexes (eg. leche, caspi, sorva, nispero, tunu, jelutong, or chicle, which is still commercially produced), paraffin wax or beeswax, polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate, stearic acid, and various natural gums.

Old gum bases were based on latexes, vegetable gums like chicle, spruce gum, or mastic gum. Alternative choices were waxes, eg. paraffin wax and beeswax. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana and at Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company are studying the possibility of making gum base with biodegradable zein (corn protein). [1]

[edit] See also

• Bubblegum
• Chewing gum
• Functional gum
• Gum industry
• List of chewing gum brands

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Story of Gum