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As child , we were warned not to swallow manducate gum , because it supposedly take seven years to digest . But is there any truth to this erstwhile wives ' story , or is it only a myth ?
fortuitously for those who have accidentally downed a marijuana cigarette or two , it does n’t take anywhere close to seven years for swallowed mucilage to exit our body , accord toJulia Zumpano , a registered dietician at the Cleveland Clinic ’s Center for Human Nutrition in Ohio . " It takes 40 hours , just as food does , to make its way through your digestive organisation and out through stool , " she told Live Science .
Our bodies can’t digest the majority of chewing gum’s ingredients.
That articulate , we do n’t really stomach chewing gum . " Our consistence do n’t have enzymes to digest some of the products in gumwood , " saidDr . Nancy McGreal , a gastroenterologist at Duke University Medical Center . " So , if you swallow it , it does journey through your intestinal tract whole . "
This mean that if you withdraw gum , you poop it out whole , just like you wouldpieces of undigested corn(which may not be digest because they ’re high in fiber and have a cellulose program , which we also lack enzyme to break down ) .
" I ’ve had a few instances where I ’m doing a procedure like a colonoscopy , and I ’ve found a little bit of chewing gum that a patient role had bury . But again , that was probably something they take back within the last 24 hours and not something from seven year ago , " McGreal said .
Our bodies can’t digest the majority of chewing gum’s ingredients.
Related : Why do our stomachs growling ?
Gum is made out of an artificial product called gum base — which containsnon - food for thought ingredientssuch as resins , emulsifier and softeners — that ca n’t be digested , harmonise to theCleveland Clinic . However , our bodies are able to digest some of the other ingredients sum to gum , such as sweeteners .
So , if we ’re able to happen undigested glue through our digestive systems , is there any risk to swallowing it ?
" If it ’s one or two spell of gum , probably nothing unseemly or contrary is going to bechance to someone , " McGreal say . fit in to theIllinois Poison Control , swallow humble amounts of gum should n’t have an yield , but big amounts could go to " vomiting , constipation , abdominal bloating and pain or changes in intestine habits . "
However , swallowing gum can in rare example cause obstructionin the intestinesif someone eats a mass of it at once , Zumpano said . A 1998 paper in the journalPediatrics , for representative , reported three cases of children developing esophageal or intestinal pamphlet obstruction after swallowing chewing gum . There ’s even been a event of a teenager having obstruction of the upper airway for years after swallow glue , harmonize to a 2020 grammatical case report card in the journalRespiratory Medicine Case Reports .
But these obstruction do n’t just occur in child . A 2020 case report in theACG Case Reports Journaldetailed a 53 - year - old cleaning woman who admitted to swallow 25 while of nicotine gum per day for the past three years before a colonoscopy let on 30 piece of gum stuck in her blind gut , a pouch at the entranceway to the large intestine . The generator wrote : " We believe encourage affected role to discard chewing gum rather than ingesting is necessary for patients using large amounts of chewing gum daily , although it is obvious . "
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to boot , swallow too much sorbitol — a sugar alcohol often present in sugar - free chewing gum — can cause digestive event , mainly diarrhea , because it draws water into the intestines , McGreal said . When she was a medical student , for instance , she saw a patient role with unexplained diarrhoea . Doctors ran a slew of tests on him to try and figure out the caseful , but made no clearance until one physician note the crank can fill up with clams - free gingiva wrapper by his bedside . The patient then recounted how he had chewed and swallowed many pieces of gum tree .
