How long does gum take to digest?
If you swallow gum, rest assured that it won’t take seven years to digest. Your body can safely pass gum within a few days. Even still, swallowing large amounts of gum isn’t recommended. Research shows that large amounts of gum can lead to intestinal blockages, especially in children.
Can swallowing gum hurt you?
There are times when swallowing gum may cause you some harm. It could get stuck in your digestive tract and cause a blockage. It typically takes a great amount of swallowed gum to cause a full blockage, but it isn’t unseen, especially in children.
How much gum is too much?
While some may experience tummy troubles after chewing just a few sticks, others might be able to plow through a pack of gum with no ill effects. Generally, though, you’re entering the gum danger zone if you start chewing about twenty pieces a day.
What if I eat chewing gum?
Although chewing gum is designed to be chewed and not swallowed, it generally isn’t harmful if swallowed. If you swallow gum, it’s true that your body can’t digest it. But the gum doesn’t stay in your stomach. It moves relatively intact through your digestive system and is excreted in your stool.
What is the healthiest gum to chew?
Xylitol is considered to be the best for dental health. Chewing gum with non-sugar sweeteners definitely results in fewer cavities than chewing gum with sugar. In addition to stimulating saliva production, the non-sugar sweeteners may also directly suppress the bacteria in dental plaque that cause cavities.
Is swallowing gum actually dangerous?
Although chewing gum is designed to be chewed and not swallowed, it generally isn’t harmful if swallowed. Folklore suggests that swallowed gum sits in your stomach for seven years before it can be digested. But this isn’t true. If you swallow gum, it’s true that your body can’t digest it.
What to do if you accidentally swallow gum?
If you swallow a chewing gum by accident/mistake, it’s unlikely that it will cause harm to your body. It will be moved through the digestive tract by normal ‘pushing’ actions of the gut. Then, it will be handed over to the intestines, which will get rid of it through excretion.
What happens if you accidentally swallow gum?
So when you swallow gum accidentally, it reaches the stomach as any food would. The stomach then tries to digest it as if it were food. When it fails, the gum will simply continue to move through the intestinal tract, as do the many foods that the body is not able to digest, until it is expelled in the faeces.