Best Chewing Gum For Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a popular approach to weight management and overall health improvement, but as anyone who’s tried it knows firsthand, it can be really difficult to get through a long fasting window.

Your day is rolling along, and you’re several hours into your fast when your stomach starts growling. It sounds as though it’s threatening to eat itself, the nausea is kicking in, and you wonder if it’s safe to chew on a piece of gum to ride it out.

Chewing gum can be really helpful while you’re fasting, but it’s beyond important to make sure that you’re selecting the right kind (with the right ingredients) to prevent causing an insulin response that wrecks your fast.

What To Know About Chewing Gum & Intermittent Fasting:

• Chewing gum can help to decrease your appetite and control hunger when you’re fasting, intermittently, or otherwise.
• It probably goes without saying, but you cannot swallow your chewing gum while fasting.
• Although a chewing gum that’s sweetened with cane sugar or honey may be low calorie, natural sugars can interrupt your body’s fasting state by impacting insulin levels, and should be avoided entirely.
• Sugar-free gum is the very best kind to chew while fasting, but you need to pay close attention to the type(s) of artificial sweeteners being used.
• Certain artificial sweeteners, like xylitol and other sugar alcohols, can cause gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, or diarrhea) in some people when ingested too frequently.

Fasting Chewing Gums, Compared

Product Specs	Sweetener(s)	Flavors	Calories	Price
Reflux Gourmet	Sugar alcohols, Stevia	Two	0	$22 / 30 pieces
Ice Breakers	Xylitol, other sugar alcohols	Many	5	Varies
Dubble Bubble Sugar-Free	Sorbitol	Classic bubblegum	5	$3.99 / 20 pieces
Mentos Pure Fresh	Xylitol, sugar alcohols, aspartame	Many	5	Varies
Falim Plain Gum	None	Plain	0	$12.00 / 100 pieces

Can You Chew Gum While Fasting (Or Should You)?

You can chew gum during an intermittent fast as long as you’re careful to inspect the ingredients first.

Any ingredient that triggers an insulin response, such as natural sugar, will break your fast. This includes cane sugar, fructose, nectars, or honey. Although the calorie count on such chewing gums might be minimal, the sugar content isn’t. 

Anytime you eat sugar, which is a simple carbohydrate, your body breaks it down into glucose, and your pancreas then releases insulin in response to that glucose to help your body use it as energy.

But because sugars are broken down quickly, your blood sugar rises and drops quickly as well. Even if you don’t swallow your chewing gum, you’re still swallowing the sugars through your saliva, triggering a digestive response that breaks your fast.

Artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes, on the other hand, do not elicit the same insulin response in the body when swallowed.

This is especially important if you’re fasting long enough to enter ketosis, a metabolic state where your body uses fat as a fuel source instead of glucose (blood sugar), which is often achieved during 16-hour fasting windows.

One study had participants chew sugarless gum for 30 minutes during a 12-hour fast and found “no significant differences in the blood concentration” of glucose or insulin.

Sugar-free gum is always your best choice while fasting if you don’t wish to break it sooner than planned.

Benefits Of Chewing Sugar-Free Gum During A Fast

Whether you’re fasting for a few hours or as many as 16 (or more), sugarless chewing gum offers several benefits that include:

• Curbing hunger
• Satisfying cravings, especially for sweets
• Preventing dry mouth and improving oral health, as it stimulates the production of saliva
• Freshening your breath
• Reducing or relieving stress
• Improving concentration

Chewing Gum, Sugar Substitutes & Safety

If you’re concerned about the safety of artificial sweeteners, you’re not alone. Below, we’ll take a quick look at the most common ones you’ll encounter when you’re reading ingredient lists.

• Aspartame: This was considered a possible carcinogen, however, evidence is limited, and the World Health Organization deems a daily intake below 40mg per day as being safe.
• Xylitol: Found in a lot of sugarless chewing gums, xylitol is safe, but if consumed in high amounts, it can cause gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, gas, and bloating.
• Sucralose: This is produced from actual sugar but passes through the body rather than being stored as glucose. It’s considered safe, but can stimulate appetite and has been shown to change the gut microbiome.
• Stevia: Derived from the sweet leaves of its namesake plant, it’s safe to consume and may actually have some health benefits, to boot.
• Other sugar alcohols: These include sorbitol, lactitol, mannitol, maltitol, and erythritol, and are considered safe in moderation, but as with xylitol, overconsumption can lead to gastrointestinal troubles. Of these, erythritol is the best tolerated.

The Best Gum To Chew While Fasting

As I mentioned earlier, when you’re choosing a gum to chew during your fasting window, sugar is the number one thing to avoid because it can impact your insulin levels.

At the same time, certain artificial sweeteners can have a laxative effect in some people, so you need to monitor your chewing frequency and your body’s reaction to a particular sugar substitute.

As with most things in life, moderation is key.

Reflux Gourmet

Although this chewing gum is technically formulated to ease acid reflux, when you find you’re dealing with an excess of stomach acid during your fasting window, Reflux Gourmet is the best one to reach for.

RxG uses ingredients that promote digestive health and protect your throat and esophagus from acid, while increasing saliva production that keeps acid down where it belongs.

If you regularly experience a burning sensation in your stomach while fasting or struggle with acid reflux or GERD, Reflux Gourmet is the absolute top pick.

It’s sweetened with a blend of sugar alcohols (sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol) and Stevia for a sugary taste and zero calories.

Reflux Gourmet Pros:

• Contains ingredients that support digestive health
• Alginate blend coats the esophagus and throat to offer protection from stomach acid
• Has zero calories per piece

Reflux Gourmet Cons:

• Is on the pricey side at $22 per 30 pieces
• Only two available flavors (currently)

Ice Breakers Ice Cubes

When it comes to sugarless gum, Ice Breakers has got the absolute best flavor range available. 

Whether you’re a fan of mint, traditional bubblegum, or fruity blends, you’ll find something you’ll enjoy in their line of flavors: Arctic Grape, Black Cherry, Bubble Breeze, Cherry Limeade, Cinnamon, Kiwi Watermelon, Mint Crystal, Peppermint, Raspberry Sorbet, Spearmint, and Wintergreen.

The gum is soft, but starts with a little satisfying crunch from the flavor crystals, which can help to satiate your need for actual food while you’re mid-fast. At just 5 calories a piece, Ice Breakers Ice Cubes are sweetened with xylitol and a blend of sugar alcohols that offer plenty of flavor with no insulin response.

(You just need to be careful not to swallow your gum.)

Ice Breakers Pros:

• Great range of sugar-free flavors
• Satisfying “crunch” from flavor crystals 

Ice Breakers Cons:

• Tastes so good, you might be tempted to swallow it

Dubble Bubble

If you looked forward to getting Dubble Bubble in your bag whenever you went trick-or-treating, you’ll be thrilled to know there’s a sugar-free version that’s fasting-friendly.

Just like the chewing gum you loved as a kid, every piece is wrapped individually and has that classic pink bubble gum color and flavor you know and love. Sweetened with sorbitol, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium, Dubble Bubble Sugar-Free packs just 5 calories per piece.

Dubble Bubble Pros:

• Classic bubble gum flavor and bubble-blowing ability
• Hits that nostalgia note from your childhood

Dubble Bubble Cons:

• Only one singular flavor 

Mentos Pure Fresh

Although not all of Mentos’ products are sugar-free, their Pure Fresh line is, and there are plenty of delicious flavors to choose from.

Sweetened with xylitol, other sugar alcohols, and aspartame, Mentos Pure Fresh gum has a hard outer shell that provides a satisfying crunch when you start chewing it. 

It gives your mouth something to do, feels like you’re eating (even though you’re not), and helps to satiate your hunger while you’re fasting.

That said, this is one to be careful with because swallowing it might feel a little too compelling…

Mentos Pros:

• Many flavors to choose from
• Outer shell has a satisfying “crunch”
• Just 5 calories per piece

Mentos Cons:

• As with Ice Breakers Ice Cubes, you might be tempted to swallow this one

Falim Sugarless Plain Gum

It’s surprisingly hard to find a truly “plain” chewing gum, one that has absolutely NO sweetener of any kind, but if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve finally found it.

Falim’s Sugarless Plain Gum is pretty much exactly as advertised. It’s a basic mastic gum with no artificial flavors, and because it has no sweetening agent, you can chew this as often as you like without affecting your insulin levels or your gastrointestinal system.

This particular gum isn’t for everyone, least of all those who are seeking a satisfying flavor or sweetness, but for a plain chewing gum that gives your mouth something to do while you’re fasting, it’s the best one out there.

Falim Pros:

• Completely free from sweeteners (natural or artificial)
• Long-lasting chew

Falim Cons:

• Not much flavor
• No sweetness at all

Closing Thoughts

You might be fasting, but you don’t have to give up on the little joys that get you through the day (or make the hours pass by a little more easily). 
A simple piece of chewing gum can help you to curb cravings, and as long as you’re being smart about the type you choose, you can enjoy that small comfort without breaking your fast or impacting your insulin levels and gastrointestinal system.