When a woman from Nanjing, China, read that chewing gum could help her lose weight, she decided to give the technique a try. Unfortunately, she seems to have taken it a bit too far. After incessantly chewing gum every single day for the past six months, the technique backfired on her – not only did she fail to lose weight, her jaw actually bulked up from all the exercise!

The woman, who is going by the pseudonym Gao, said that it all started when she and her friends read an article about the benefits of chewing gum. The report reasoned that chewing gum burns up to 60 calories per hour, while jumping rope burns only 10. If you do the math, it adds up to losing 5 kg of weight a month just by chewing gum all day long. It also explained that chewing gum could lead to a feeling of satiety, making a person consume less food.

Convinced by the story, Gao started chewing gum morning to night, every single day. She kept it up for about six months, but her extra pounds didn’t seem too affected by the daily ritual. Instead, her colleagues began to point out changes to her face! They started to notice that her previously pointed face had now developed a rather masculine, square shape.

Gao panicked and visited Dr. Li Jun, a plastic surgeon at Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Hospital. He confirmed her worst fears – that excessive chewing of gum lead to over-exercise of the upper jaw muscles, resulting in the widening of the face.

Dr. Li also explained that when a piece of gum is chewed for over 15 minutes, it will start to harden and become more and more difficult to chew. The strain could make the facial muscles tense up, causing them to change shape. Fortunately, the doctor has given Gao a ray of hope – he said that her jaw may return to normal size over an extended period of time if she stops chewing gum.

Source: Yangzi Evening News