It is a tall tale that terrifies most young children. Swallow a piece of chewing gum and it will remain in your body for seven years before it is digested. An even worse tale is that swallowed gum can wrap itself around your heart. But what does happen if you should accidentally eat a stick of gum? Chewing gum is made out of gum base, sweeteners, coloring and flavoring. The gum base is pretty indigestibleit is a mixture of different ingredients that our body can't absorb. Most of the time, your stomach really cannot break down the gum the way it would break down other foods. However, your digestive system has another way to deal with things you swallow. After all, we eat lots of things that we are unable to fully digest. They keep moving along until they make it all the way through the gut and come out at the other end one or two days later. The saliva in our mouths will make an attempt at digesting chewing gum as soon as we put it in our mouths. It might get through the shell but many of gum's base ingredients are indigestible. It's then down to our stomach muscleswhich contract and relax, much like the way an earthworm moves to slowly force the things that we swallow through our systems. Swallowing a huge piece of gum or swallowing many small pieces of gum in a short time can cause a blockage within the digestive system, most often in children, who have a thinner digestive tube than adults but this is extremely rare. What happens to the food that can't be fully broken down?
It remains in our digestive system forever. It will be eventually moved out of our body. It will fight against the power of the gut. It will stick to the gut for one or two days.