Mastic Gum for H. Pylori Support

Research suggests that mastic gum displays meaningful antimicrobial activity against H. pylori, with in vitro studies and laboratory analyses consistently demonstrating bactericidal effects against multiple strains, including drug-resistant ones, and identifying specific active components such as acidic fractions and essential oil constituents like α-terpineol as likely contributors to this activity. Studies indicate that when mastic gum is used as an adjunct alongside standard antibiotic regimens, such as bismuth quadruple therapy, it may improve eradication rates and symptom outcomes, a finding supported by a 2026 clinical study and echoed in several reviews. However, the evidence is meaningfully tempered by studies showing that mastic gum used as a standalone therapy failed to achieve statistically significant H. pylori eradication in human clinical trials and animal models, suggesting that its antimicrobial promise in laboratory settings does not straightforwardly translate to monotherapy efficacy in vivo. The overall body of evidence, which includes two randomized controlled trials, multiple in vitro investigations, and several reviews but is notably limited by the small scale of clinical studies and variability in preparations and dosing, points most clearly toward a potential supporting or adjunctive role for mastic gum rather than as a primary treatment for H. pylori infection.