But because we sell millions of boxes of gum a year, our gum is made at a big production facility.
![chewing on plastic and fingernails chewing on plastic and fingernails](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/picking-gum-3981356.jpg)
We could come up with various recipes that would work with small batches, made by hand, in our home kitchens. This, however, proved to be a big challenge. And, we wanted to keep making it with chicle, a sustainably harvested rainforest tree sap. We had always wanted the indigestible part of our gum – the gum base – to be as natural as the rest of our gum. I asked Deborah about the challenges of creating a completely plastic-free gum base. The company sent me a few packs to try out, and while I’m not much of a gum chewer, Michael thinks it’s great! Challenges of Developing a Plastic-Free Chewing Gum Base Well, it’s taken longer than she expected, but finally, in 2015, Glee was able to offer plastic-free chewing gum in its original sugar-sweetened flavors and more recently in its sugar-free flavors as well. She hoped to find an alternative later that year. And as I wrote back then, even Glee Gum, one of the most natural brands in town, was combining plastic with the natural chicle in its gum base.Ĭompany owner Deborah Schimberg told me that she really wanted to get the plastic out of the gum base, but that it was difficult to find a natural substitute. At that time, there really was no brand of gum available that didn’t either contain plastic in the packaging or in the gum itself. Regardless of the root cause, seeking a doctor’s help is key to starting the road to recovery.I first wrote about plastic in chewing gum in January of 2010. In the case of those with special needs, sometimes medication can be used to lessen the pica eating. Pica may stop spontaneously in children and pregnant women, but can go on for years in people with mental and developmental disabilities unless treatment is sought. Ultimately the prognosis depends on a variety of factors. Sometimes treatment can succeed when the individual experiences negative consequences after eating a non-food substance, and then gets positive reinforcement for consuming proper food. Looking at the bigger picture, a multi-faceted approach including developmental, behavioral, and environmental therapy along with family education is often recommended. As a first step, treatment should replace missing nutrients if applicable and address any other health issues. Once eaten, they can damage the gastrointestinal tract, and that can result in bowel problems, ulcerations, perforations, or obstructions, says Lugerner.Ĭertain tests can be a good start toward determining treatment, including hemoglobin to check for anemia, lead levels if paint or objects coated with lead paint have been consumed, and gastrointestinal tests to rule out infection in the case of soil or animal waste being ingested. These substances may contain poisons, toxic chemicals, or bacteria. Symptoms of pica are generally related to what’s been ingested. No one really knows exactly how common it is, as many patients are probably too embarrassed to discuss the behavior. Still other people with pica simply desire a specific texture in their mouth. Strange cravings can sometimes be triggered by not getting enough nutrients, including iron and zinc. “And the ingestion of dirt or clay has been reported throughout the world in poor societies, in the tropics and subtropics.” “It has been associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia,” says Lugerner. Teens and adults most commonly eat clay or soil, though people have been found to ingest lead, laundry starch, plastic, pencil erasers, ice, fingernails, paper, coal, chalk, wood, plaster, light bulbs, needles, string, and wire.Īmong mentally and developmentally disabled people, especially those ages 10 to 20, pica is the most common eating disorder and is found in 20 percent of children treated at mental health clinics.Īmong adults, pica can start during the first trimester of pregnancy, but there are other people who have it as well.
![chewing on plastic and fingernails chewing on plastic and fingernails](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1393/7131/products/convert_20_1024x1024.jpg)
Older children consume anything from animal droppings, sand, and insects to leaves, pebbles, and cigarette butts. These youngsters will eat paint, plaster, string, hair, and cloth. This non-food cravings eating disorder can be found in 10 percent to 32 percent of children between the ages of 1 and 6, according to the National Library of Medicine. “Pica is an eating disorder that involves the consumption of substances that have little or no nutritional value for a period of at least one month in individuals who are older than 18 to 24 months,” explains Suzanne Lugerner, RN, director of clinical nutrition at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.
![chewing on plastic and fingernails chewing on plastic and fingernails](https://i.imgur.com/BtDkadk.jpg)
Pica got its name from the Latin word for magpie, a bird that eats just about anything.
![chewing on plastic and fingernails chewing on plastic and fingernails](https://imagesvc.meredithcorp.io/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.onecms.io%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F13%2F2019%2F11%2F05%2Fstop-nail-biting.jpg)
These are just some of the non-food cravings experienced by those with the eating disorder pica. Many people have odd food cravings now and again, but imagine wanting to eat soil, vinyl gloves, even burned matches.