You may be idly chomping on some right now. But would you believe that your favourite chewing gum does anything more than freshen your breath?

The chewing gum giant Wrigley's unsurprisingly thinks so. And it is putting its money where its mouth is, with the creation of a multimillion-dollar research programme called the Wrigley Science Institute.

According to the manufacturer, it wants to find the scientific evidence to back up the anecdotes that chewing gum can help keep weight down, cut stress and improve concentration.

"We do have very strong reason to believe that chewing has significant benefits that will bear out," said Surinder Kumar, Wrigley's chief innovation officer.

Previous work has shown health benefits of chewing gum. The most obvious is preventing tooth decay. By removing the acids present in the mouth after a meal it slows down the process of decay. Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago reported in 2004 that Wrigley's Big Red chewing gum, which contains extracts of cinnamon, reduced bacteria that cause bad breath by more than 50%. They concluded that, by helping to stimulate saliva production and removing bacteria, breath would stay fresher for longer.

Saliva also contains minerals such as calcium, phosphate and fluoride - all components of tooth enamel - which can be used to repair early signs of decay in tooth enamel.

In the UK psychologists at the University of Northumbria found that chewing gum improved memory. In his experiments Andrew Scholey found that people who chewed gum recalled words better than people who did not chew anything at all. He speculated that because chewing increased heart rate, it would increase oxygen supply to the brain, enhancing cognition.

Finally, a small study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this year suggested that chewing gum after colon surgery helped shorten patients' hospital stays. The researchers said chewing gum might stimulate the same nerves in the body as eating, promoting the release of hormones that activate the gut.

The results of the Wrigley Science Institute will not be known for at least a year and the company is clearly hoping that the research continues to show the benefits of gum.

Wrigley's said the research would be carried out in independent laboratories and published in peer-reviewed journals.