PLANO, Ill. – Retired chewing gum inventor Ron Ream has followed gum-chewers from childhood to adulthood, creating tastes and brands that have shaped generations.

In the late 1970s, the former Wrigley Co. inventor and Aurora native invented Mork bubble gum, inspired by the Mork and Mindy television show. In the late 1980s, he created Ouch! bubble gum, which resembled bandages in a Band-Aid box. Bubble Tape and a Bart Simpson gum, popularized in the 1990s, were also his inventions.

“I literally went through hundreds of ideas. I had launched five to 15 new products every year for 30 years,” he said.

But as his children grew up, Ream’s thoughts on chewing gum, as well as its affects and possibilities, matured.

And then he realized the obvious about his older, work-frenzied audience: American adults run on caffeine.

Working with scientists at a Florida lab, he discovered that a stick of gum containing caffeine provided an instant boost compared to a cup of coffee, an espresso shot or energy bars being digested for example.

This past summer, after 10 years of research, Ream’s Plano firm Marketright has distributed a caffeine gum, available only to a very specific consumer: first-responders fighting the war in Iraq.

Ignited by a federal grant secured by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert back in 1998, Ream collaborated with scientists of the Walter Reed Army Institute to research the effects of a caffeine gum containing 100 mg of caffeine per piece. One piece is equivalent to a six-ounce cup of coffee.

“I was the gum man, and they were the clinical testing gurus,” Ream said.

Marketright firm has distributed 500,000 packages of Stay Alert Gum to the military so far, Ream said. The contract lasts two years.

“We were already aware of nicotine gum. If gum can move nicotine in the blood stream, what about caffeine? And what we found was, “Boy, did that work fast,'” Ream said from his quaint downtown Plano office.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface of chewing gum” with this product, said Ream, and East Aurora High School graduate.

It’s easy to pop in a piece of the chewing gum, which tastes like a strong, black cup of coffee masked by either a mint or cinnamon flavor. But don’t mess around with the instructions on the packaging. “Chew 1 piece for five minutes. If not alert within 15 minutes, chew a second time.”

“Do not exceed 2 pieces in 8 hours, or more than 10 pieces in 24 hours.”

One of the warnings reads, “Do not use as a substitute for sleep.”

That’s because the gum shoots caffeine through the body four or five times faster than a liquid or pill because it’s absorbed through tissues in the mouth. Half of the caffeine in one piece is usually removed from the system in seven hours.

Some studies also suggest that an overwhelming amount of troops in the Gulf War died as a result of chronic fatigue and not necessarily military fire, Ream said.

The gum is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, although no warning label is necessary for a military product of this kind, according to the National Academy of Sciences.

The gum’s packaging of a camouflage print and military-style writing was designed and printed by Yorkville companies. It is manufactured by KoKo’s Confectionary in Maryland.