Did you know that over 5,000 products we use every day are made from wood and wood by-products? Take a look below at some of the ways you use trees every day.

• Chewing Gum

  • The world's first chewing gum came directly from a tree. The ancient Greeks often chewed a gummy substance derived from the resin of the mastic tree. In fact, many in Greece and the Middle East chew mastic resin even today. The chewing gum that most of us enjoy, however, contains resin from our own Florida trees. Refined pine tree resins from Southeast coastal states are used often as ingredients in chewing gum.

• Fat-Free Foods

  • Cellulose gum, which comes from wood pulp, is used in many food products, like fat-free cookies. Gums also act as a thickening agent in low-fat salad dressings. In ice cream and other frozen desserts, gums prevent the formation of crystals.

• Shampoo, Lotion and Lip Balm

  • Cellulose gum is used to thicken shampoo, lotion and lip balm.

• Band-Aids

  • Tree gum, which is the sap extracted from trees, is used to make the adhesive on bandage strips.

• Sports Drinks

  • Trees provide the wood rosin used in making the flavoring for sports drinks.

• Coated Pills

  • Leaves from some trees are used to make coating for pills.

• Cough Drops

  • Antiseptic properties of some tree gums are put to use in cough drops.

• Artificial Vanilla Flavoring

  • Used in many baked goods, this is made from by-products of the paper-making process.

• Cinnamon

  • This popular spice is made from the bark of the laurel tree. The tree bark is rolled into sticks or ground into powder.

• Cork

  • Found in numerous products, including wine corks and fishing tackle, this comes from the cork oak tree.

• Laundry Detergent

  • That fresh, clean smell in laundry detergent comes from liquid terpenes, a by-product of paper.

• Paint

  • Tree gums are used as a drying agent in paint.