Chewing Wood May Boost Memory + Brain Antioxidants, study finds

A recent Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience study examined how chewing various materials impacts the brain. It found that chewing wood, as opposed to chewing gum, significantly increased levels of a brain antioxidant known as glutathione.

However, the study, like all research, has some limitations to consider. Firstly, the participants were all young, healthy university students in their twenties. It’s not clear if these findings would be the same in older adults or in people with health conditions. Future studies should include a wider range of ages to see if the effects of chewing on glutathione and cognition are consistent across the lifespan.

Secondly, the study focused on just one specific brain region, the anterior cingulate cortex. While this region is important for thinking, it would be beneficial to investigate other brain areas to get a more complete picture of how chewing affects the brain.

Thirdly, the chewing period was relatively short, only five minutes. It’s possible that longer chewing durations or different patterns of chewing could have different effects. Also, while the study compared gum and wood, these materials differ in more ways than just hardness. Texture and other properties could also play a role. Future research could explore a wider variety of chewing materials and objectively measure the hardness of what people are chewing.

“In summary, this study yielded two major findings. Firstly, the wood-chewing group experienced stimulated of brain [glutathione (GSH)] synthesis, leading to increased GSH levels in the brain,” the researchers concluded. “Secondly, correlation analysis indicated that the higher GSH levels in the wood-chewing group were associated with improved scores in cognitive measures. Since there are currently no drugs or established practices for boosting brain GSH levels, our findings suggest that chewing moderately hard material could effectively increase GSH levels in the brain. Based on these results, consuming harder foods might prove more effective in enhancing brain antioxidant defenses through elevated GSH levels.”