By Linea Jantz
Cover photo courtesy of Linea Jantz
As a true Nature scientist, I once convinced seven children to grab gobs of pine pitch off a tree and pop them in our mouths because I had read that many Native tribes used to chew tree sap as gum. I don’t think pine was one of the tree saps anyone chewed willingly. The sap immediately crumbled in an evergreen explosion of flavor that quickly glued to our teeth and gums. It took two days to brush the last of it off my teeth. Thankfully, the kids’ parents were (surprisingly) understanding.
So when I learned about Nathan & Sons’ Underbrush Remineralizing Gum, I had to try it. The base is made from spruce, acacia, chicle and mastic gums. The website includes a long list of research studies into the health benefits of the various ingredients which include: fighting bacteria growth, removing plaque and whitening teeth (naturally and gently), aiding digestion and eliminating bad breath. This gum also contains no plastics, PFAS, parabens, gluten, sugar, aspartame or sucralose. And it’s made in the USA.
There are four flavors: Cinna-Mastic, Honeybun (reminiscent of brown sugar beeswax), Mastic Mint (leans to spearmint) and Berry (blackberry forward). Each gum gets a more earthy, spruce taste as its main flavor fades–which happens a few chews in.
I used to run trail ultras and am curious to see how this gum might function to help soothe GI issues such as upset stomach or cleanse a runner’s mouth after hours of gels.
