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Why is Chewing and Spitting So Bad?

Brought to you by a Biochem Major

*This is a long post, but I recommend reading it all. It took me like 6 hours to research and type this up, so I hope that someone will find this useful!*

Chewing and spitting doesn’t seem like it would cause any health problems. It seems harmless; obviously you’re not swallowing your food, but besides that, what could be so bad about it?

Your body is a system. All the parts work together and communicate. Read ahead to learn more!

What is chewing and spitting?

It’s just what it sounds like! People will chew their food and spit it out instead of swallowing. It seems like a great method to lose weight: you get enjoy all the delicious flavors of food without having to digest any of the calories (wrong)!

What happens when you chew your food?

Chewing is your body’s first step to digesting food. In your mouth, you mechanically break down food through chewing and chemically start to break down food through the aid of enzymes present in your saliva.

What problems can chewing and spitting cause?

Chewing and spitting can cause stomach problems like ulcers, mouth problems like tooth decay, cavities, and swollen salivary glands, and hormonal imbalances that can contribute to chronic diseases.

How does chewing and spitting cause these problems?

Your body is a system where every part communicates with each other. In digestion, the nervous system (think brain/spinal cord/nerves) and endocrine system (think glands/hormones) work together to help make digestion more efficient. Remember, chewing is your body’s first way of digesting food. When you chew (even if you don’t swallow), your nervous and endocrine system will still communicate to the rest of your body that food is moving further down the digestive tract.

Your body prepares for this in several ways: through the release of stomach acid, an increase in saliva, and the production of insulin. I will go into each of these specifically; the key takeaway is that even though chewing may seem like a minor action, it produces a major chain reaction from your body, that can take a toll on you if this response has nothing (food) to respond to.

Secretion of Stomach Acid

• Problem: Stomach acid is released to help further break down food that travels further down the digestive tract. However, when you chew and spit, you’re not swallowing food that the stomach acid can interact with. Therefore, your stomach acid is being released into an empty stomach where it reacts with your stomach lining instead. This causes stomach ulcers and other problems in your stomach.
• What’s the big deal/why does this happen: Stomach acid is a very strong acid. It has a pH of 2 (note: pH ranges from 1-14; the smaller the pH of a substance, the more acidic it is). For reference, battery acid has a pH of 1, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) has a pH of 3. In my chem labs, I have to wear gloves when dealing with HCl because it can burn your skin (I won’t include pictures, but you can look it up…it’s not pretty.) Ok, so your body will secrete stomach acid, believing it will be interacting with food traveling further down the digestive tract. But since you didn’t swallow your food, the stomach acid is going to instead interact with your stomach lining. Think about what a less acidic acid will do to your hands. Now think about what a more acidic acid is going to do to your raw stomach lining. If you engage in this behavior often enough, you could potentially burn a hole in your stomach.

Increase in Saliva Production and Excessive Chewing

• Problem: Saliva production is increased in an effort to help break down food in the mouth. However, since you’re spitting out your food, your salivary glands are working hard for no reason. This overwork causes your salivary glands to swell. Excessive chewing also contributes to swelling and jaw pain.
• What’s the big deal/why does this happen: People who spit and chew are often eating large quantities of food (binge eating, but without swallowing). They’re chewing more food than normal in short periods of time which causes the salivary glands to be overworked. The swelling of the salivary glands can cause pain in your cheeks and from the outside, your face may appear swollen. Jaw pain arises from the overwork of your jaw in chewing. Binge eating is typically accompanied by high sugary foods. This of course causes cavities and tooth decay.

Production of Insulin

• Problem: Eating carbohydrates causes an increase of blood glucose (sugar) levels which is regulated by the hormone insulin. Chewing causes the endocrine gland in the pancreas to secrete insulin to help prepare for this increase in blood glucose levels. However, since you are not swallowing your food, the production of insulin is unnecessary. This causes an excess of insulin in the body. Excess insulin can cause many problems including diabetes (I would explain this more, but I honestly don’t understand it enough and do not want to give out incorrect information! Please keep in mind that there really hasn’t been enough research done on spitting and chewing. I have done my best with the research I could find!).

What’s the harm of chewing and spitting every once in a while?

Chewing and spitting every once in a while might not seem like that big of a deal. And you know what, it might not be that bad if you did it a few times and stopped. BUT: chewing and spitting is highly addictive and is very difficult to stop. When you chew on your food (even if you don’t swallow it), your brain’s pleasure centers are activated. This behavior becomes positively reinforced, meaning you will want to repeat this behavior. You may be thinking “blah blah blah. I can stop whenever tf I want!” However, please keep in mind, the brain responds to chewing and spitting the same exact way it responds to other addictive behaviors like gambling and using drugs. Once you start, it is very very hard to quit. The health side effects are not worth it.

I don’t care about my health. I only care about losing weight. Will chewing and spitting help me lose weight?

Remember how I talked about how chewing and spitting causes your insulin levels rise? Excess insulin not only leads to also leads to an increase in appetite and the slowdown of your metabolism. Obviously this is not going to help you lose weight, but it will help you gain! It’s been found that people who spit and chew typically gain weight. You should also keep in mind that chewing is the first way your body digests food. The enzymes in saliva will break down carbohydrates and those calories will be absorbed by your body even if they don’t go past your mouth.

Thank you for reading! Submit an ask if you have other requests ❤️

Please read through this and stay safe