Mastic gum is a tool centuries old with several health benefits and aesthetic purposes with minimal side effects. So what exactly is mastic gum, how can it potentially help you and what do you need to watch out for? Let's dive in.
What Is Mastic Gum?
Mastic gum has been around since the 5th century BC. It comes from a mastic tree - a green shrub found on theGreek Island of Chios. It's been used for thousands of years for stomach and gut health but has seen a resurgence in recent years as a way to improve your jawline and facial aesthetics.
How to Use Mastic Gum?
Mastic gum is typically available in 3 types of forms - chewing gum, powder, capsule, and essential oil. Here's when and where you'd use each form of mastic gum.
Mastic Gum Chewing gum
This may have the best overall profile as you get the benefits of chewing gum along with the benefits of the actual mastic gum.
Mastic Gum Powder
Mastic gum powder is useful for mixing into other shakes/smoothies where you don't want to have to chew extensively in order to get the benefits.
Mastic Gum Capsules
Capsules can be taken anytime and are more immediate for the mastic gum absorption.
Mastic Gum Essential oil
This form is typically done when a more precise dosage is needed or
The Benefits of Mastic Gum
Mastic gum has awide array of benefits - here's a partial list.
Improving Dental Health
Mastic gum has been shown to help reduce mouth bacteria that can cause cavities
IBS
Mastic gum has been shown to help particpants who took 2.8g of mastic gum/day alleviate siginficant IBS symptoms. Chron's disease sufferers may see some relief here as well.
Improved blood sugar and cholesterol
Mastic gum has some studies where particpants cholesterol and blood sugar levels improved where they took 330mg or more of mastic gum per week.
Even better gains were found in people who chewed mastic gum and exercised 3x/week.
Reducing Ulcers
Mastic gum seems to help relieve ulcer symptoms for stomach ulcer sufferers. The dosage for this is 1g/day.
Heartburn relief
Similar to the other issues listed above, mastic gum may help with heartburn relief. Some studies have shown improvement on indigestion symptoms while using. Participants took 350mg, 3x/day.
Possibly Anti-Cancer Effects
While more research needs to be done, some animal studies have shown that mastic gum can have anti-tumor effects. In addition - mastic oil may help kill some leukemia cells.
Keep in mind, these studies were not on humans and are very early, but they do seem promising.
Mastic Gum & Your Jaw
This, combined with techniques like mewing and other face or jaw exercises can improve your jawline and help improve your facial posture. Some people will actually swear by this.
Are There Any Side Effects to Mastic Gum?
There aren't any well known side effects to mastic gum but due to the bitter taste, please consult with your doctor before mixing this with any prescriptions.
You do need to make sure you buy mastic gum from trusted sources however.
Mastic Gum Before +After
Coming soon...
The Best Mastic Gum Brands
If you're looking for the best mastic gum brands - here are four that we've found do the trick.
- Greek Chios Mastic Gum
- Solaray Mastic Gum Extract
- Krinos Imported Mastic Gum
- Nutricology Mastic Gum
We recommend the Greek Chios Mastic gum.
Mastic Gum Alternatives
If you're looking for an alternative to mastic gum, check out falim gum. We'll be doing a review and have our top recommendation available here soon.
Other Facial Posture + Jawline Resources
Other resources you might be interested in surrounding mastic gum and facial posture:
- Mewing 101 Guide
- Our Tongue Posture Guide
- Jaw Stretches
- The Best Jaw Excerciser Guide
- Starting with Looksmax
Other Mastic Gum Resources
We've dug up some of the best mastic gum resources around the internet. If you want to get started and dig in deeper - here you go.
