Chewing gum or anything else tricks your stomach into thinking food is coming, which turns off hunger signals.
Scientific Claim
Masticatory activity triggers the release of cholecystokinin and suppresses ghrelin, reducing subjective hunger independent of nutrient intake.
Original Statement
“Anytime you can chew, there's things called mastic gum... we're actually signaling the gut hormones to begin, which actually releases things like cholecystokinin. Believe it or not, it actually suppresses appetite and suppresses ghrelin.”
Context Details
Domain
gut-health
Population
human
Subject
masticatory activity
Action
triggers
Target
release of cholecystokinin and suppression of ghrelin
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Eating protein-rich meals made people feel less hungry and changed their hunger hormones in a way that didn’t depend on how many calories they ate, which matches the idea that chewing and protein can reduce hunger without needing more food.
Contradicting (3)
The study found that eating food (not just chewing) changed hunger hormones, and chewing alone didn’t seem to reduce hunger—so the claim that chewing triggers these hormone changes isn’t supported.
Effect of age and frailty on ghrelin and cholecystokinin responses to a meal test.
This study looked at what happens when people eat food, not just chew it, so it doesn't tell us if chewing alone makes you feel less hungry.
Obesity causes selective and long-lasting desensitization of AgRP neurons to dietary fat
The study found that in obese mice, the body’s hunger signals (CCK and ghrelin) stop working well, so even if chewing triggered them, they might not reduce hunger — which goes against the claim.