In a previous blog of mine, I found that swallowing gum really had no negative impact on the human body and it is more appropriate to swallow gum in some situations.  This blog led to unanswered questions of where the gum actually goes and what happens to it once it is swallowed.  So what does happen to this swallowed gum?  The answer is that it travels all the way through the digestive system like any other food would would, even though many rumors will say that it will stay in the body for years.

Although chewing gum is categorized as a product that can not be digested, it is extremely rare for it to actually get stuck in your stomach.  The gum might not actually be broken down, but it will be pushed out of the stomach just like any other piece of food would.  Stomach muscles will push the gum out with no problem by contracting and relaxing (Swaby).  This has been proven to be true through many medical studies.

David Milov, a pediatric gastroenterologist “tells the magazine Scientific American that he can say ‘with complete certainty’ that gum does not stay in you for seven years (Clark).”  He goes on to show that 3 of the 4 key parts of gum are actually able to be broken down and the last part excreted from the body just as any other food substance (Clark).  This proves that swallowing gum is not a big deal and will simply pass through the digestive system.

With the fact that swallowed gum simply passes through the digestive system comes certain exceptions in extremely rare cases.  For example, a four and a half year old boy had become addicted to chewing gum and since he didn’t know any better, he would just swallow it each time.  Doctor’s ended up having to remove all of the pieces that got backed up inside of him.  This sort of scenario has really only happened with young children (Swaby).  Older people simply know better not to swallow many pieces of gum everyday, aside from the occasional accident.

Aside from these rare cases, swallowing gum will not cause you problems, so if it happens to you, don’t freak out.  It is proven that gum will be able to pass through the digestive system with  ease as long as the amount is relatively insignificant.  In general, a good idea would be to try and not make a habit of swallowing gum on a regular basis and just keep gum out of the reach of young children until they are able to know not to swallow it.