Side Effects: Sour Mouth, Lower BP

Acidic gum beat sugar-free at cranking out nitric oxide from beetroot juice — exactly backward from what test-tube studies predicted. Also this week: a sleep gene that ignores amyloid, and jackfruit sap moonlighting as a bone-building drug delivery system.

By
Kerri Miller
June 23, 2026
7 min

MDSpire News

Objective:

To investigate the effects of chewing sugar-loaded bubble gum versus sugar-free gum on blood pressure after consuming beetroot juice.

Approach:

Key Findings:

Chewing sugar-loaded gum lowered salivary pH by about 1.4 units.
Sugar gum raised salivary nitrite production by 45% and plasma nitrite by 25%.
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased by 2.7 mmHg and 1.9 mmHg, respectively.
A more acidic mouth enhances the nitrate-reductase activity of bacteria on the tongue.

Interpretation:

The findings suggest that oral pH influences the nitrate pathway, contrary to previous test-tube studies indicating higher pH promotes nitrate-to-nitrite conversion.

Limitations:

The effect of the sugar gum on blood pressure faded by the sixth hour.
The authors do not recommend sugar-containing gum as a general approach due to potential diabetes concerns.