Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
Extra was launched in 1984 as the Wrigley Company's first ever sugarfree product, and became one of the most popular brands of chewing gum in the United States within a few years.[2] It was also the first sugarfree gum not to use saccharin, instead using the NutraSweet brand, a sweetener developed by G.D. Searle & Co. that had less bitterness and was believed to be safer in humans and laboratory animals; it was later reformulated with aspartame in 1997.
Extra was launched in 1984 as the Wrigley Company's first ever sugarfree product, and became one of the most popular brands of chewing gum in the United States within a few years.[2] It was also the first sugarfree gum not to use saccharin, instead using the NutraSweet brand, a sweetener developed by G.D. Searle & Co. that had less bitterness and was believed to be safer in humans and laboratory animals; it was later reformulated with aspartame in 1997.
