What happens when you swallow a chewing gum?

One of the most obnoxious habits, isn't it? Chewing a gum? I am sure you all must have heard weird allegations on the poor gum, some lie- It will grow in your tummy, or it stays inside for 7 years or any other statement. So lets decode the mystery. (Oh god! Sherlock Holmes!?).

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As we chew something, the food disintegrates inside our mouth. The proteins and enzymes in our stomach breaks don the food so that it can be absorbed by intestines. The things that aren't absorbed are excreted as waste along with other by-products. But chewing gum does not disintegrate. It does not go through the digestive process in the mouth as well as in the stomach. However, this is not a new discovery.

Archaeologists have found tooth mark lumps on birch bark; ancient women chewed Mastica to clean their teeth and cure bad breath; people in the past times quenched their breath by chewing a resin from spruce tree. A lot of people chewed sweetened paraffin wax.

Until World War-II, base of of gum was chicle- latex sap from Sapodilla trees.

Modern gum uses synthetic or natural rubber that mimics chicle's properties. Combined with sweetener and flavor. Gum's rubber is not digestible. Mouth digests the sweetener and flavors but rubber isn't getting broken down.

Although, on the plus side, our body have other ways of setting things out. Our digestive tract is an active place. Muscle contractions move the gum forward and it comes out of the other end.

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Summing up, avoid swallowing it, as it does not disintegrate in the body and the body is pushing a significant mass through the system, and if we you add to that mass you could end up with an intestinal obstruction. Basically, you will create a blockage in one tube that processes everything. Immediate symptoms can be- Stomach ache and constipation, but if left untreated it can get worse.

Although, it super-rare. So, swallowing a gum wont kill you, or stay in your tummy for 7 years, or grow inside. But try not to do it. It isn't that fun.