美国研究人员称嚼口香糖可以帮助学生集中注意力，从而有助青少年提高数学成绩。这样的结果估计要让严令禁止学生嚼口香糖的学校管理人员大跌眼镜了。该研究是由口香糖巨头箭牌公司资助并由休斯敦贝勒医学院的克莱格?约翰斯顿主持进行的。经过为期14周的对比实验后，研究人员发现在课堂、考试以及家庭作业时嚼口香糖的学生最后的数学考试成绩要高于那些没有嚼口香糖的学生。
In a study likely to make school janitors cringe, U.S. researchers said Wednesday that chewing gum may boost academic performance in teenagers.
Many U.S. schools ban chewing gum because children often dispose of the sticky chaw under chairs or tables.
But a team led by Craig Johnston at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that students who chewed gum during math class had higher scores on a standardized math test after 14 weeks and better grades at the end of the term than students in the class who did not chew gum. The study was funded by chewing gum maker Wrigley.
"For the first time we've been able to show in a real-life kind of situation that students did perform better when they were allowed to chew," said Gil Leveille, executive director of the Wrigley Science Institute, a research arm of Wm Wrigley Jr Co, which is now a part of Mars Inc.
Leveille said Wrigley has gotten feedback from many of its gum customers who say chewing gum helps them stay focused.
So, four years ago the company started the science institute to see if some of these claims have merit.
