Eclipse (mints)

Eclipse is a brand of chewing gum and breath mint, first introduced in the U.S. by the Wrigley Company in 1999 as its first entrant into the pellet gum segment. However, it was modeled after Excel in Canada, which was launched in 1991, eight years before Eclipse was launched.

Eclipse is a brand that promises to give users "powerful fresh breath". It comes in blister packs of 12, the Big-E-Pak - 60 count plastic container of candy-coated pellets, and the recently added split packs that include 18 pellets. Eclipse gum is available in the U.S, Australia and Latvia, but are also sold in Canada under the name Excel.

Mints, in metal and paper (Europe) containers, are also sold by Wrigley under the Eclipse brand, as is Eclipse Ice gum.

In late 2007, the American Dental Association awarded its seal of approval to Eclipse sugarfree gum. Orbit and Extra, two other chewing gum products from the same company, also bear the ADA seal.

An Eclipse mint is an oval prism rounded at top and bottom, with the top and bottom halves varying in colour, depending on the flavor. Spearmint (green), peppermint and Black Chill (blue), and Winterfrost (dark blue) are available, as well as cinnamon (all pink), orange (light orange) and blackcurrant (purple).

The ingredients in the Australian and New Zealand cinnamon product are sorbitol, flavor, anticaking agent (470), sweeteners (955, 950) and colours (129, 133); while the orange product contains food acid (330), sweetener (951) (instead of 950), and colours (102, 129) (instead of 129, 133). The orange product advises that it contains Phenylalanine.

Though classified as breath mints, it is unknown if the mints contain active antibacterial ingredients. The new packaging now claims to have a 'natural ingredient' that is scientifically proven to help kill the germs that cause bad breath. Such ingredient is not specified but the label points to a pending patent for this ingredient. Wrigley's product website for Eclipse describes the ingredient as Magnolia bark extract (MBE), which has its origins in traditional Chinese medicine. In lab tests, MBE is said to have killed almost all oral bacteria, including the types that cause bad breath and cavities. Eclipse is the first product in the US to contain MBE.

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Wikipedia