Bioengineered chewing gum may offer a way to fight HPV and other microbes

Posted by Audiophilip 9 hours ago

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Comments

Comment by wxw 5 hours ago

Tangentially related, apparently xylitol gum can reduce cavity risk by killing off bacteria (which cannot digest but cannot differentiate xylitol from regular sugar) in the mouth.

Comment by mdasen 5 hours ago

Xylitol is really cool that way. The bacteria waste energy trying to convert it to a form they can use, but they just end up with at a dead end with xylitol-5-phosphate. Once they realize that they need to get rid of it, they convert it back to xylitol (so it can cross the membrane easier and probably to keep the phosphate). Of course, that means the xylitol is back to fool some other nearby bacteria into wasting its energy.

They end up wasting their energy on work that won't help them reproduce and needing to waste more energy getting rid of it.

Comment by MengerSponge 4 hours ago

In that way I'm like a bacteria. "Ah beans, gotta undo all this work"

Comment by spike021 40 minutes ago

Just be careful around dogs and presumably other pets as it's toxic for them.

Comment by kybishop 2 hours ago

I'm just over here wondering how/where/when I can buy this

Comment by noisy_boy 4 hours ago

Alternative form of delivery required for Singapore.

Comment by jdw64 26 minutes ago

I'm curious. HIV has been largely conquered, so why hasn't HPV been conquered yet? Same goes for shingles.

Comment by cyberax 13 minutes ago

You need to use antiretrovirals constantly to control the HIV. It's not worth it for the HPV that is mostly benign (and only rarely causes cancer).

Comment by jdw64 4 minutes ago

thanks!

Comment by VladVladikoff 5 hours ago

I wonder if chewing mastic would be as effective?

Comment by code_biologist 42 minutes ago

I started chewing mastic gum a few years ago as a jaw-shape maintenance measure. An encouragement for anyone who's curious about it: I like the taste and stiff texture of mastic more than normal gum these days.

Comment by hkt 14 minutes ago

Can you explain what you mean by a maintenance measure for your jaw shape? Is the idea.. a jaw workout?

Comment by 4gotunameagain 7 minutes ago

It's the new gen Z and younger thing, micro-optimise your appearance.

Outcome of chronic social media exposure.

Comment by grokcodec 4 hours ago

Not worth the time of day until it can be demonstrated that there is a net health benefit. Precautionary Principle FTW.

Comment by fsckboy 3 hours ago

humans evolved to have risk seekers and risk avoiders. some people try it, the other people watch.

Comment by skylurk 1 hour ago

we owe the dairy industry to this phenomena, and also a lot of fetishes

Comment by shevy-java 7 hours ago

Sounds like an ad. "Eat this gum, it is so healthy."

Comment by stogot 6 hours ago

Gum is often made of plastics so won’t be surprised if cancerous themselves

Comment by fernly 6 hours ago

It says, "involving chewing gum made from lablab beans (bean gum)".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lablab --

Taiwanese researchers found that a carbohydrate-binding protein (i.e. a legume lectin) from lablab beans effectively blocks the infections of influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2.[60] Researchers from Finland and USA found that extracts from chewing gum manufactured from lablab bean seeds had broad-spectrum anti-viral properties, likely due to the binding action of Flt3 Receptor Interacting Lectin (FRIL) on viruses; the anti-viral effect was similar to that of purified FRIL

Comment by jerbearito 6 hours ago

Lol they didn't read the article.

Comment by dyauspitr 5 hours ago

Hunh I always assumed it was just some kind of modified natural rubber but it’s literally plastic (PVAc, PIB) that release microplastics into the saliva.

Comment by nomel 3 hours ago

Not all is, including the one mentioned in the article. There are many "natural" chewing gum brands, that use plant based gum. You can buy boxes Amazon, or usually find them in the candy aisle of higher end grocery stores. You're probably not going to find it in a gas station/convenient store.