Could chewing gum really reduce the spread of COVID-19? Maybe – but here’s what we need to know first

Experimental chewing gum could reduce the spread of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Therapy. You may already have noticed titles calling the results a “new hope” in our fight against COVID-19. But how excited should we be? And would this eraser work against omicron, the last variant of concern?

Evidence shows that people infected with Sars-CoV-2 have high levels virus in their saliva. Researchers in the United States therefore wanted to determine whether specially designed chewing gum could reduce the amount of virus in the mouth, and therefore potentially reduce its spread.

Chewing gum to promote oral health is not a new idea. Studies showed that chewing gums containing certain substances such as calcium and bicarbonate can improve oral health, reduce the incidence of dental disease and reduce the number of Harmful bacteria. But specifically targeting a virus in this way is a new approach.

Sars-CoV-2 enters human cells by attaching itself to ACE2 proteins, which are found on the surface of certain cells in our body. The researchers produced a gum containing high levels of ACE2 proteins, produced in plants, the idea being that the ACE2 proteins present in chewing gum could “trap” the viral particles in the mouth, thus minimizing the possibility of them infecting our cells and spreading to other people.

To test the effectiveness of chewing gum, the researchers took saliva samples from patients with COVID-19 and mixed those samples with a powdered form of gum. They found that the treated saliva had a significantly reduced number of Sars-CoV-2 viral particles compared to those treated with a placebo (the same gum but without the ACE2 protein).

Researchers have also shown that the gum prevents an pseudotyped virus (a harmless virus with the spike protein Sars-CoV-2 on its surface) to infect cells in the laboratory. As little as 5 mg of gum was associated with significantly reduced viral entry into cells, while 50 mg of gum reduced viral entry by 95%. This suggests that the ACE2 gum severely hinders the ability of the spike protein Sars-CoV-2 to infect cells.

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Reasons for caution

While these results look promising, there are a number of reasons why we cannot yet consider this gum to be a pandemic game changer. First, this is early stage research, which means that the experiments were conducted in a lab under controlled conditions rather than with real people.

The conditions in a lab experiment are going to be different from the conditions in a person’s mouth. While the researchers used a chewing simulator to show that the chewing movement does not affect the integrity of the ACE2 protein in the gum tissue, there are other questions for which we do not yet have answers.

For example, would the environment in a person’s mouth, such as body temperature and oral bacteria, impact the efficiency of the gum tissue? And how long would a piece of gum keep working? It will be interesting to see if the gum produces similar effects in people as well as in the lab if research progresses at this point.

Second, although the gum significantly reduced infection from a virus carrying the Sars-CoV-2 peak, the researchers did not use the full Sars-CoV-2 virus in their experiments. While the method they used, virus pseudotyping, is a proven scientific method to assess virus entry into cells, it would be interesting to see how the gum affects the full length Sars-CoV-2 virus.

As to whether the gum would be effective on different variants of COVID, such as omicron, the principles of virology give us cause for optimism. Regardless of the variant and its mutations, Sars-CoV-2 enters human cells by attaching to ACE2 proteins, which is essential for the functioning of the gum tissue. That said, this is another question that we won’t know the answer for for sure until the product has been tested in actual trials.

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Finally, it is important to understand what this eraser is for. The researchers point out that its primary use is likely to reduce the viral spread from people with COVID-19 to others, especially in clinical settings. It is not known how well this would work as a prophylactic to prevent uninfected people from contracting the virus, especially when Sars-CoV-2 can be transmitted. in several ways including the eyes and nose as well as the mouth.

All the same, this gum could have interesting prospects in clinical settings – for example by reducing the spread in dental offices or hospital departments of COVID. When used in combination with current methods such as mask wear, ventilation and vaccination, it could be another weapon in our arsenal to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But more research is needed before we can expect to chew it.