(HealthDayNews) -- You're thirsty. And your choice of the moment only includes a stick of sugar-free chewing gum or a sugar-free lemon drop. Which should you take?
According to the Journal of Dental Research, go with the lemon drops. Chewing gum will increase your flow of saliva to about one teasponful per minute -- for about a minute. After 20 minutes of chewing, the flow has dropped off by 80 percent. By contrast, sucking on a lemon drop will keep the flow of saliva at about a teaspoonful per minute for the full 20-minute period.
These statistics don't apply if you swallow the gum or chew the lemon drop.
