Chewing gums,chicklets,are they good for kids ?

It doesn't sound like eating extracts from pig's fat would be a very good idea. I'm not a big fan of gum anyhow, so I wouldn't be giving it to my kids unless we were flying. That's the only thing I know it to be good for, to help prevent your ears from clogging when flying and descending in airplanes. Eating pig fat extracts just sounds like a bad idea on so many levels. Do you let your kids eat that stuff? Do you eat that stuff?