Not to burst your perfectly blown bubble, but it turns out that chewing gum may be flooding your mouth with microplastics. As detailed in a pilot study which is awaiting peer-review, a team of researchers found that chomping down on just one stick of the rubbery candy releases up to thousands of microplastic shards into your saliva.

Chewing gum could release hundreds to thousands of microplastic particles into your saliva, a new UCLA study finds.

Chewing gum releases hundreds of tiny plastic pieces straight into people's mouths, researchers said on Tuesday, also warning of the pollution created by the rubber-based sweet.