Biodegradable medicated chewing gum: A modernized system for delivering bioactive compounds

Abstract

Medicated chewing gum, a soft, cohesive enjoyable confectionery product loaded with bioactive compounds are chewed to release the bioactives for healing targeted parts. Currently, the production of chewing gum in the global chewing gum market is rapidly increasing from USD 25 billion to an estimated USD 37 billion by the year 2023. The application of chewing gum in drug delivery system has increased compared to pharmaceutical pre-dosage form. However, gum bases are thrown away after chewing which generates non-biodegradable waste causing harmful effects to the environment as well as living organisms. The review confers adequate information to increase the scale of production of biodegradable chewing gum for delivering of bioactive compounds as well as zero-waste technology which reduces environmental pollution in a sustainable manner. Processing of medicated chewing gums could contribute to the future food industry in developing nutraceutical products by using degradable gum bases.

Keywords

• Chewing gum
• Environmental pollution
• Controlled release
• Drug delivery
• COVID-19