School kids could soon be given the go-ahead to chew gum in class after boffins discovered it increases brain power.

Tests by psychologists showed chewing can improve people's memory ability by up to 40 per cent.

The amazing results could mean teachers may have to make a u-turn in the future and allow pupils to eat in the classroom.

The findings were revealed the British Psychology Society's annual conference in Blackpool yesterday.

The research had been carried out by academics at Northumbria University's Human Cognitive Neuro Science who were looking at ways of improving memory.

Seventy-five students acted as guinea pigs for the controlled experiment.

They were split into three groups. One group was given sugar free gum to chew for thirty minutes.

Another group sat in silence and a third group made chewing motions, known as sham chewing, but without anything in their mouths.

Heart rates were monitored for 30 minutes throughout the experiment and researchers Dr Andrew Scholey and Lucy Wilknson were stunned by the results.

Psychologist Lucy Wilkinson, 22, said: "I read an article which discovered that animals that were unable to chew had impaired memory.

"I decided to to try the theory to look at ways of improving human cognition. And the results we found were amazing.

"We found that in one particular case recollection improved by 40 per cent."

Guinea pigs were given a list of 15 words to remember and had to recall what they had seen before and after the experiment.

Lucy said: "We found that in those that were chewing gum heart rate increased by five or six beats a minut.

"One of the theories is that chewing increases heart rate in turn increases the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the brain which increases its ability to perform tasks.

"Another theory is that the body releases insulin during eating which is known to improve memory functioning in the brain.

"When we chew the body prepares itself for receiving food and so releases insulin. This happend when we choose gum.

"These are theories, but we do not know for certain why these improvements in memory have happened."

Dr Scholey added: "The research is in its early stages and we have presented our findings in the hope that more research will be carried out.

"But the potential is amazing and this research could be ground-breaking. If chewing gum improves brain power than teachers might have to start allowing them to chew in class.

"That will certainly please the kids but probably not the teachers."