title: Chewing and attention: a positive effect on sustained attention.
abstract: Chewing is crushing food not only to aid swallowing and digestion, but also to help stress relief and regulate cognitive function, especially in attention. It is well known that chewing gum is used for sleepiness prevention during work, learning, and driving, suggesting a link between chewing and sustained attention. We hypothesized that chewing elevates attention and/or alertness, leading to improvements in cognitive performance. We carried out a systematic review of the PubMed database. We inspected the attributes of effects on attention in studies investigating the effects of chewing on attention or alertness conducted with pre-post design in healthy subjects, except elderly. We identified 151 references, 22 of which were included: 14 (64%) showed positive attributes of effects on attention, 1 (5%) showed negative attributes of effects on attention, 5 (23%) showed both positive and negative attributes of effects on attention, and 2 (9%) showed no significant attributes of effects on attention. Thus, positive attributes of effects of chewing on attention, especially on sustained attention, were shown in over half of the reports. These effects also appeared with improvement in mood and stress relief and were influenced by time-on-task effect. Further studies are needed, but chewing could be useful for modifying cognitive function.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan ; Research Program for Carbon Ion Therapy and Diagnostic Imaging Research, Center for Charged Particle Therapy, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3844-3061
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.affiliation: Department of Judo Therapy and Medical Science, Nippon Sport Science University, 7-1-1 Fukuzawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158-8508, Japan.
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onozuka
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000375:Aging; D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D008409:Mastication; D039781:PubMed; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*