Chewing Gum May Help Improve your Concentration, Will Not Help you Lose Weight

A new study shows that chewing gum might actually help improve your concentration, but it will unfortunately not help you lose weight. 

According to The Huffington Post, researchers had two groups of 20 people each listen to a 30-minute recording that included a sequence of numbers. After listening, the participants were asked to remember the sequence. But only one groups chewed gum-and they had higher accuracy rates and faster reaction times than the non-gum chewers.

Those chewing gum also maintained focus longer during the exercise. The study is in the British Journal of Psychology-and contradicts a 2012 study that found gum chewing decreased short-term memory performance

Many researchers believe that chewing gum increases the flow of oxygen to regions of the brain that are actually responsible for attention. More oxygen can keep people alert and improve their reflexes. Research also shows that you won't get the same effect by just pretending to chew gum.

However, while chewing gum may help you think, it unfortunately doesn't help you lose weight. A study published in the journal Eating Behaviors suggests that chewing gum may actually increase your risk to want to eat fattening snacks instead of fruits and veggies.

So, if you're taking a test, it might be cool to pop in some gum, but if you're doing weight watchers, might be best to just skip the gum if it could tempt you to go for cake instead of carrots.