2006-10-04 11:18:44 · 14 answers · asked by Allyfd 1 in Health ➔ Diet & Fitness
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.
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.
2006-10-04 11:30:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chewing gum has five basic ingredients - sweeteners, corn syrup, softeners, flavours and gum base (the part that puts the "chew" in chewing gum). The first four ingredients are soluble, meaning they dissolve in your mouth as you chew. Gum base doesn't. And although it isn't meant to be swallowed, if it is, it simply passes through your system, just like popcorn or any other form of roughage. This normally takes only a few days.
2006-10-04 11:31:16 · answer #2 · answered by Julie S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try this with a chewing gum:
Chew it. Put some fat (e.g. unskimmed milk, nuts, chocolate, peanut butter, cream, cheese...) in your mouth. Go on chewing it together. See what happens: It dissolves. So don't believe the 19th century rumours that chewing gum will stay for years and do this and that to your intestines. All that it takes to get rid of swallowed chewing gum is already in your daily diet!
2006-10-04 11:34:09 · answer #3 · answered by kraut1975 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
10 years
2006-10-04 11:23:29 · answer #4 · answered by romancer 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your body can't digest chewing gum, it stays in the stomach for a few days before your body excrets it.
2006-10-04 11:29:00 · answer #5 · answered by Matthew M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too long, it exits the system before the gum would break down!
2006-10-04 11:21:50 · answer #6 · answered by Booooo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's lots of roumers saying it stays in the intestine for years, sticking to the walls, but this has been dismissed as it looses stickiness, in the wetness of the gut. It has been proved to pass through, you wont notice it, as its lost some volume, and is covered in poo!
2006-10-04 11:26:40 · answer #7 · answered by ben b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's indigestible. Look through your crap if you like, you'll see it there unchanged, and should you care to, once washed, you could chew it again.
2006-10-04 11:35:08 · answer #8 · answered by Mr E. 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it cannot be digested it comes straight out the other end
2006-10-04 11:20:50 · answer #9 · answered by missree 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
to the person who said abut disolving it. i find extra strong mints are good at disolving it
2006-10-04 16:36:08 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋