Experimental chewing gum has been shown to limit the viral load in saliva and help prevent infection when speaking, breathing or coughing.
According to a Reuters report on November 23, a chewing gum developed by a team at the University of Pennsylvania contains a copy of the protein ACE2, which helps viruses enter and infect cells.
According to in vitro tests using saliva and throat swabs from people infected with Covid-19, the virus molecules bind to the ACE2 protein in chewing gum. As a result, the viral load in the sample was reduced by more than 95%.
Researchers said that this kind of chewing gum tastes like ordinary chewing gum and can be stored for many years at room temperature without breaking down the ACE2 protein molecule when chewing.
Using this chewing gum can reduce the viral load in saliva and will become a useful tool for countries with insufficient Covid-19 vaccines to fight the epidemic.