Can this really be true?

Question

Does gum really take 7 years to digest?

Answer 1

"Luckily for us, it doesn't take seven years (as lots of myths have it). In fact, our stomach doesn't digest gum at all! Since it's made out of soluble fiber, chewing gum passes right through us. So gum comes out with the rest of your waste, usually a day or two after you eat it."

Answer 2

No, there's nothing to support this rumor; as sticky as chewing gum might appear to be outside the body, once it's sent down the alimentary canal it's no more remarkable in that respect than most anything else we swallow.

This oft-repeated claim may stem from genuine confusion over a term commonly applied to chewing gum: indigestible. Although gum resists the body's efforts to break it down (hence the 'indigestible' designation), it does not linger in the stomach. Gum is eliminated as human waste in the same way — and at the same rate — as any other swallowed matter. Granted, it comes out the far end relatively unchanged by the trip, but it does come out on schedule.

Though parental cautions against swallowing something which was meant to have the flavor chomped from it and then discarded might account for part of the warning's spread, the greater part can likely be attributed to the nature of the substance itself. Chewing gum is quickly worked into an unchanging mass in the mouth that, unlike foodstuffs, barely gets smaller no matter how hard or how long we chew it. Its resistance to being broken down by the teeth works to support the fanciful notion that it has special properties which allow it to lurk in the digestive system year after year. Moreover, since we know we're not supposed to swallow gum, imagination kicks in, inventing a "reason" for this prohibition since the obvious one — that it's not food — lacks an appropriate sense of mystery.

And food it's not. About 15% to 30% of chewing gum is gum base, a natural or synthetic indigestible rubbery substance that makes the treat resilient to hours of jawing. Vegetable-oil derivatives can be added to keep gum soft. Glycerin maintains moistness. Sorbitol and mannitol add sweetness to sugarless gum, and mannitol is often used to dust the gum, along with starch. Artificial and natural flavorings, colorings, preservatives, sugar, saccharin or corn syrup, can also be added.

Answer 3

When you swallow chewing gum, it takes seven years to digest - Fact or Fiction?

FICTION.

According to officials at Wrigley, makers of Big Red and Juicy Fruit, it only takes a few days to digest when you accidentally swallow a wad of the chewy stuff. Chewing gum consists of five basic ingredients, four of which dissolve in your mouth--flavor, sweeteners, corn syrup and softeners. The fifth ingredient, gum base, doesn't dissolve but eventually passes through your system undigested, much like fiber.

Answer 4

no according to doctors its a myth mostly they say it tskes a lot of hour or a few days it depedns on how fast your digestive system digests so next time you swaloow a piece of gum you'll know it will defiantely come out before 7 years are up

Answer 5

False. Nothing soft takes seven years to digest.

Answer 6

I've heard that before too. Not sure of gum's longevity in the digestive track.

Answer 7

To fully digest yes i have heard it takes up to 7 whole years.

Answer 8

Gum is not digested, it works as a laxative.

Answer 9

No, whether or not it digested it would pass through your system in a day or two

Answer 10

no . it is only myth. it will pass out through ur digestive track.