Truth behind what actually happens if you swallow chewing gum

An accordance with the laws of the playground everyone knew that if you swallowed a piece of chewing gum it'd be stuck in your body for seven years.

There were also terrifying rumours abounding that to swallow three pieces of gum in seven years would mean you clogged up your digestive system and died.

Swallowing a piece of gum meant you were suddenly at risk, a direct challenge to your own mortality at such a young age and your friends would tell you that some other kid at another school had really died from swallowing too much gum.

There's just one problem with this vital cornerstone of playground wisdom, it's absolute bulls**t.

Sorry everyone who was convinced they were gonna die in primary school from swallowing too much gum, you were never really in that much danger.

We all had the fear in school. (Getty stock photo)

Gum doesn't hang around in your digestive tract for seven years either, so swallowing too much in a seven-year period isn't going to kill you either.

Your body can't break down and digest the gum base, but that basically means it's going to be exiting your body alongside pretty much every other thing you swallow that isn't put to work somewhere inside you.

You'll crap it out in short order is what I'm saying, as you're not going to end up with chewing gum stuck inside your stomach.

While you can't digest the gum base, you can absorb sweeteners present in the chewing gum through the act of chewing. This is how products such as nicotine gum work to help people quit smoking.

There have been very rare cases where swallowing too much gum has caused health problems, but it's an exceptionally rare occurrence so as long as you're basically not eating the stuff on purpose the occasional glob of gum going down your gullet shouldn't be too much of an impediment.

Although generally harmless when swallowed, there was the case of one boy who directly ate chewing gum on purpose and blocked about 25 percent of his stomach and gastrointestinal tract.

It'd take more than three pieces of gum to shut this down. That's not a challenge to try. (Getty Stock Photo)

He started complaining of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, which is when doctors discovered a large mass of gum in his stomach.

Doctors ultimately decided to remove the gum by placing a metal tube down the child's throat to get all of the gum out, with it taking 'several passes' to remove the lot.

At the end of the day the boy complained about having a 'sore throat' and went home, which is better than having your digestive system clogged up.

While it's not going to kill you to swallow the odd bit of gum from time to time it probably is for the best health-wise if you try your best not to.

Topics: Health, Weird

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker