Does gum get stuck in your digestive system or does it just break up like normal food?
2007-12-21 06:26:23 · 12 answers · asked by null 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Gum + Digestive System = normal passage.
Gum is hard to digest and takes a lot of energy to get any food value out of it. If the body can't digest it then it is going to just dump it like any other waste. The dinner you eat after you swallow your gum is going to sweep through the digestive tract and pretty much push whatever is in front of it out along the way. So the myth that gum staying your digestive track for 7 years is totally wrong; at most a few days.
The body digests what it comes across and it doesn’t sort out some and hold it around for longer digestion. The small intestine is so long that by the time food gets to the end of it all the food value that can be taken out has been. If not then the rest is dumped in the large intestine and from the body.
Celery is a negative calorie food; it takes more energy to digest it than we get out of it. However, it doesn’t hang around for years. It passes through the body like normal food. If the human body was going to hold gum around to digest longer then it would hold celery as well and it doesn’t do it.
2007-12-21 06:35:29 · answer #1 · answered by Dan S 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It takes an average of 5 days for gum to be fully digested in the human body. Autopsies performed have debunked various myths that gum does fully breakdown in the GI tract.
2007-12-21 06:36:41 · answer #2 · answered by Emerson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is by coincidence that I happened to come across an article that discusses Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe. It is a myth that it takes " X" amount of years to digest gum. Total myth. Check out this article, it's quite interesting.
http://news.yahoo.com/livescience/20071221/sc_livescience/7 medicalmythsevendoctors
2007-12-21 07:59:18 · answer #3 · answered by Ruth 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As long as what ever else is in your stomach. The acid in your stomach will dissolve the gum & it will pass with everything else. No mater what others say there isn't a secret hiding spot in your stomace for gum to stay for 7 years. Think about it this way, if you cew gum for too long it will start to deteroriate, & fall apart in your mouth. Do you really think that your stomach acid is less abrasive then your spit?
2016-03-16 04:49:17 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It goes down. It does not stick. You'll probably poop it out a week later though, because it takes longer to digest. But not 7 years.
2007-12-21 06:38:10 · answer #5 · answered by Dutchess 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no it does not get stuck in our digestive system but one thing is for sure that swolling gums is not gud for health
2007-12-21 07:24:58 · answer #6 · answered by kool dude 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gum goes right through the system at the same pace as the rest of the food. Ask any parent whose diaper-wearing kid has swallowed a blob of pink bubblegum. They can tell you that it shows up pretty much unchanged.
2007-12-21 09:34:50 · answer #7 · answered by ecolink 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eventually it breaks up like normal food. It doesn't get "stuck" though. It just stays in your stomach for a longer period of time because it is harder to digest. So, eventually, it does get digested, just not at the pace of normal food.
2007-12-21 06:34:39 · answer #8 · answered by Diamond 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no it doesn't stick. your stomach acids cannot break the gum down so it passes through your system like anything else.
2007-12-21 06:35:54 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
first of all why do u have to eat gum...
have something nutritious.
and it will digested as other food materials
2007-12-21 06:30:15 · answer #10 · answered by xyz a 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋