Chew on this: It's for your health

The possibilities for gum are endless, says USC's Roger Clemens, a spokesman for the Institute of Food Technologists. "It is," he says, "the delivery vehicle of the future."

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It really has lasted

People have been champing on various gums and resins for centuries. The ancient Greeks chewed mastiche, the sticky resin of the mastic tree. Mayans chewed chicle -- the milky latex of the sapodilla tree. And Native Americans chewed spruce sap.

Here's a timeline of more recent gum developments.

* Early 1800s: American settlers begin selling lumps of spruce gum in the eastern United States.

* 1869: At the urging of Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, inventor Thomas Adams tries to make a rubber substitute out of chicle. Instead, he creates one of the first modern chewing gums, called Adams New York No. 1.

* 1880s: Beemans gum, with pepsin powder, claims to aid digestion.

* 1888: Tutti-frutti is the first gum sold in a vending machine -- in New York City subways.

* 1899: Dentyne is the first gum claiming to promote oral hygiene.

* Early 1900s: Gum comes in a variety of flavors, including mint and fruit, and a variety of forms, including sticks and balls.

* 1928: An accountant named Walter Diemer invents Dubble Bubble, the first successful bubble gum. It is strong and stretchy enough to fill with air. It is also pink.

* 1928: Aspergum, with aspirin, is introduced.

* 1953: Topps begins using comics to wrap pieces of Bazooka gum. Around the same time, they add gum to packages of baseball cards.

* 1950s: Sugarless gum appears.

* 1975: Nonstick gum appears.

* 1983: Aspartame becomes the sugarless gum sweetener of choice.

* 1996: Nicorette nicotine gum becomes available without a prescription.

-- Emily Sohn