The AP (2/3, Ungar) reports new research suggests that chewing sugarless gum may help prevent premature birth. The study divided over 10,000 women into two groups where one group “received oral health education and chewed the gum twice daily,” while the control group “received only the education.” The study found that the rate of preterm births before 37 weeks in the group that chewed “gum made with the sweetener xylitol” was “13% compared with 17% in the control group.” The largest “difference was in ‘late’ preterm births between 34 and nearly 37 weeks.”
Newsweek (2/3, Davis) reports the study also found that the percentage of newborns with low birth weights was about 9% in the group that chewed sugarless gum compared with around 13% in the control group.
HealthDay (2/3, Mann) reports, “Experts are quick to caution that it’s too early to say that all pregnant women should start chewing xylitol gum to prevent preterm birth.” Dr Bicuspid (2/4) reports that the study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Daily Mail (UK) (2/3, Ely) also reports.
