How Long To Digest Gum

The bottom line if you swallow gum rest assured that it wont take seven years to digest.

How long to digest gum. However chewing gum does resist your digestive systems attempts to dissolve it and break it down. Your body is able to break down some of the gums components such as sweeteners and oil derivatives but the gums rubber or latex base gets churned out in a matter of days. As children were told we mustnt swallow chewing gum because it will take seven years to digest. A myth as durable as gum itself holds that the chewy confection sticks to your innards like it does to the bottom of a desk.

Chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the human digestive system. While most people grow up and find that this is not the casenor would it even be physically possiblemany of us still carry the belief we obtained during childhood that it takes gum seven years to digest in the stomachs of those who swallow it. Unlike other foods chomping gum up between the teeth does not alter its form or mass. Until then we are led to believe it will lie there in your stomach oblivious to the usual bodily.

Gum along with other waste products passes out of your body with your next bowel movement usually within one to three days of ingestion. Its the same way your body handles other hard to digest foods like popcorn kernels seeds and other high fiber items. Answer from elizabeth rajan md. Digestion time varies among individuals and between men and women.

After you eat it takes about six to eight hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine. Folklore suggests that swallowed gum sits in your stomach for seven years before it can be digested. Although chewing gum is designed to be chewed and not swallowed it generally isnt harmful if swallowed. The human digestive system usually takes between 6 and 12 hours to completely process whatever we eat.