What Really Happens When You Swallow Your Gum?
- Posted on April 25, 2012 at 10:47am by
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This post originally appeared on Gizmodo by Rachel Swaby.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
You’ve heard the warnings: If you swallow gum, it will stay in your digestive system for nearly a decade. Which would mean there‘s a decent chance you’ve got some hanging out in your gut right now.
If you look at its ingredients — a delicious mix of indigestible compounds — it certainly seems possible. And if you look at the medical books, swallowed gum has caused some serious problems. Is it possible that your mom’s crazy warnings were right?
The Worst Cases
A 1998 article in the journal Pediatrics discussed three cases in which kids took the act of gum-swallowing to Intervention-like extremes. (Warning: What follows is not for the squeamish!)
The first tale was of a four and a half year old boy who had been addicted to chewing since he was two. By the time his parents finally took him to get help, he was up to seven pieces of gum a day—each one he had conveniently disposed of down his throat. When the mass created a blockage, his doctors had to pull the “taffy like substance” from him manually.
The next subject, also four, would indulge in gum several times a day as a reward from her parents. The subject was known to gulp down her first piece just so she was allowed another. In the end “multiple spheres of chewed gum congealed into a multicolored rectal mass” — their words, not mine — had to be extracted.
The final tale comes from a regular gum-chewing one and a half year old. The girl apparently decided to spice things up by taking in four coins with what she was chewing. The mass had to be pulled out via a special coin-in-body retrieval system. Not good!
The History of Gum
But these are extreme cases — just three out of possible millions. It‘s possible that we’ve been accidentally swallowing gum for centuries. Lumps of tar that date back to 7000 BCE have been unearthed in Northern Europe with teeth impressions in them. And chewing gum was primarily a young people’s thing even then; teeth marks show that users typically fell within the 6-15 age range.
Later on Greeks chomped on resin from the mastic tree, named for the related chewing action. The right kind of resin could pick up overtly gross things from one’s teeth while also serving as a bit of a breath freshener. When the New England colonists settled in America, one custom they picked up from the Native Americans was chewing gum — in this case spruce resin.
The modern incarnation of chewing gum actually comes from an engineering mistake. In the 19th century, industrialists lauded chicle, or the latex collected from a tree in the Yucatán, as a promising rubber equivalent. In 1869, Antonio López de Santa Anna, an exiled former president of Mexico living in Staten Island, thought he’d check out the claim. Santa Anna brought in a ton of the stuff from Mexico and hired an inventor, Thomas Adams, to work out its vulcanization process. The only problem was, it didn’t work. Not only was the project a failure, but Adams was also left with the remainder of the material.
Although the stuff wasn’t going to work for tires, Adams did notice that the material had some remarkable qualities. When the resin was dried, for instance, he found it was insoluble in water and quite plastic. Why he then thought to stick it in his mouth, who knows? But what we do know is that he patented his chewable material in 1871. He eventually added of flavors, which allowed his gum to do better in drug stores that the sweetened paraffin sold for the same purpose. A little later, Wrigley’s, with the right marketing, made gum famous.
What’s Really Going On
Since then, we’ve all accidentally gulped down a few varieties of chewing gum, but it’s highly unlikely they created a cast off colony our guts. It’s possible the rubbery pieces might have lingered a little longer in our digestive system than, say, a milkshake, but even that delay is debatable. The reason: our stomachs are actually remarkably efficient systems for shoving food through, digested or undigested.
Most of what makes up gum falls in the “undigested” category. Our saliva takes an early stab at digesting food, and it will penetrate the Chiclets’ shell or the sweeteners inside a stick. But the base material — a combo of natural and synthetic gums and resins that make up to 30 percent of what we chew — is mostly impenetrable.
Even then, our stomach muscles contract and relax, earthworm style, to force the things we swallow down and out. So no, unless you’re replacing meals with the stuff, you’re probably OK.
That is not to say you shouldn’t listen to your mother. Technically speaking, she has a point.
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Comments (94)
BlueSteel
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:11pmOctaMom has been swallowing for years and look what‘s it’s gotten her. It’s uncanny!
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:44pmWHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU SWALLOW YOUR GUM?
It comes out your a$$, no really I saw it once, it was embedded in my Obama…right by the corn.
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:45pmWHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU SWALLOW YOUR GUM?
it ends up in the toilet embedded in the Obama, right next to the corn.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 3:06pmMitten is correct I have had a similar experience.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 3:34pmThe same thing that happens when you swallow a quarter it comes out a little dirtier but still useful.
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:55pmSo the worse thing that happens if you swallow gum is you end up having a rainbow-colored turd that has to be manually dug out of the rectum? Sounds like a literal metaphor for what is wrong with the USA right now. It is time to remove the turd.
Report Post »squonk1pb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 6:32pm@mittens …
It took me a while to stop laughing out loud. That‘s just freakin’ hysterical.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 8:10pmSwallowing gum his a lot accepting the idea that lowering taxes for the richest creates jobs. It seems like a good idea at the time you swallow it, like it’s some kind of nutrition, and it stays with you for a decade.
Report Post »denisp52
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 1:23amIf Obummerturd had anything to do with it you would swallow a quarter and only get back a dime!
Report Post »ryan
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:08pmmy kids, age 4.5 and under, have never had gum.
Report Post »And I spit mine out.
Gross.
billrow
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:03pmOnce in shop glass, we took a wad of bubble gum and hit it full blast with the blue flame of an oxy-acetlene torch. For quite a while the gum remained unchanged until it finally solidified. It was still pink and about the same size.
Report Post »vtxphantom
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:36pmWell, I’m just glad they swallow and not smoke it.
Report Post »DeVain
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:25pmWhat happens when you swallow gum?
You fart and blow bubbles!!!
Report Post »Greyowl
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:37pm@Devain…lol…I tell my grandkids this all the time!!
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 9:08pmand it you fart twice, carefully, you can blow one inside of the other. And then with your Bic lighter you now have a WAD. Weapon of @ss Destruction.
Report Post »rando44
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:23pmI thought gum was stored right next to all the undigested red meat in conservative colons…
Report Post »Larry E
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 6:17pmConservatives can readily digest red meat, white meat, venison, and all other forms of meat except for dog meat. The only ones who can digest it are socialists apparently.
Report Post »duketurner
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:22pmI wonder why they haven’t tried to ban chewing gum yet.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 3:07pmThey have not banned it because it only sticks in conservative stomachs, check pout post above!
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:21pmWhen the Blaze speaks; we answer. I appreciate the Blaze for letting me vent. They probably saved me a ton of medical bills for getting things off my chest.
Report Post »Arshloch
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:19pmActually they all missed the point. When that ‘rectal mass’ congeals the owner there of, turns into a democrat. Can anyone say Pelosi?
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:14pmI think fert would be a good future tense verb. Lol.
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 10:32pmAbsolutely needs to be added to Webster’s hahaha
Report Post »piper60
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:13pmMy father used to tell me that it would lodge in my appendix, along with any grape seeds I swallowed. So far, no problems. I don’t chew much gum these days. It either loses its flavor too fast, or tastes so strong, that I cannot stand it.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:13pmLooks like you could fert bubble gum bubbles.
Report Post »BellaMia7
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:59pmWho is making the editorial decisions about what appears on the blaze? I could make better choices and I do and send the to the blaze. Sometimes they appear. But this is getting absurd.
Report Post »candcantiques
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:06pmWe are 17 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT. I dont give a sheet about bubble gum.
Report Post »candcantiques
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:09pmOur Constitution is being shredded, our futures being sold to communism, black activists are threatening race wars and here we are talking about the most important topic in the world…. BUBBLE GUM. Bubble gum will fix everything. IDIOTS.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:16pmEveryone should lean how to fert bubble gum bubbles.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:22pmYou ought to love bubble gum stories. The Blaze only goes first class. Bubble gum is first class.
Report Post »pwnjr
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 5:24pmsometimes you just have to have fun or you will crack up and lose it. I am ready for the crap to hit the fan and want to be informed but I find this funny. So have a sense of humor once in awhile and get over it.
Report Post »mokyfellow
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 9:28pmJust don’t read “The Blaze”. But don’t try to get the other 99% to stop enjoying articles like this one!!
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 5:40pmDo you have to type that in or just click and paste? Just wondering.
Report Post »Most of us decide before we click on a title whether it is worth reading or not. I’m sorry you wasted a few clicks. You can request click refunds by writing the author of each story. This applys to all content police.
RichardTeach
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:54pmI‘m 46 years old and I’ve swallowed my gum since childhood. It just passes through. Otherwise, I’d be dead.
Report Post »FlamingFartSyndrome
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:04pmi chew gum, then swallow it on a regular basis as well. It digests just like anything else; never have had a problem in my life with this.
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:48pmEat more fiber and keep yourself well hydrated
Report Post »JAMACAMECRAZYMAN
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:47pmIt‘s Bush’s fault
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:18pmBush can do anything. I bet he would know what to do with a good piece of old bubble gum that has been in your stomach long enough to reuse for something like blowing bubbles out the other end. He would love that.
Report Post »3monkeysmomma
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:42pmWho gives a two year old gum?
My youngest is 4 1/2 and he has yet to have a peice of gum.
Report Post »black9897
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:49pmThis is old news. The Magic school bus explained this years ago.
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 9:24pmThe Magic School Bus…now that brings back memories. Lol!
Report Post »PatriotDadOfSix
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 12:25pmThis is a load off my mind..whew. To think that I’ve been waiting for over 40 years to be told by a doctor that I have a tumor in my gut the size of a grapefruit..all from swallowing gum. My mother traumatized me for yeaaaarrrs over this issue..it‘s a childhood I can’t get back. Now back to watching my television with sunglasses on..I don’t want to go blind.
Thanks Blaze.
Report Post »single stack
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:58amThis story is just silly. Everyone knows that if you swallow your gum it makes your knees stick together.
Report Post »mccracken
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:17pmThe best birth control.
Report Post »Aldinsgirl
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:54pmSomeone needs to buy Sandra Fluke a pack of gum! She problem and Rush’s would be solved!!
Report Post »Optimist4now
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:54amHave to chew on this one a bit.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:34amI loved the comments on gizmodo where this was yesterday.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:25amThe ‘nanny state’ we llive in will probably put gum in the same category as cigarettes. I can see the signs now….‘No Smoking or Gum Chewing’.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:25pmSeems like the prez would go for cocaine ok. I think I pass on that or any dope they want to trade gum and even cigaretts for. That prez looks like he is still using something. He is sure losing a lot of weight. He must be on a pink slime diet.
Report Post »Conservative_T-Rex
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:13amThose three scary stories are enough for michelle O to get out there and ban gum now… thanks Blaze.
game/quiz for avid fox news watchers: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Bohnfather/fox-news-personalities
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:12amOh, no… Europeans chewed Tar Babies!
Report Post »Gamaliel
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:50amIt’s okay if the Europeans did it . . . but Americans who chew gum must be racist.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 4:25pmI chewed Black Jack when I was a kid.
Report Post »chiefwahoo23
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:04amI thought if I swallowed a piece of gum, it’d grow a gum tree in my stomach.
Report Post »Darn.
Teabunny
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:02amMy daughter swallowed a nickle once! it was funny! I took her to the doctor, and they x-rayed her…there it was, in her stomach…we then waited a few days x rayed her again…it was in her intestine…we waited some more, x rayed her again…it was gone! amazing! she was almost 3 at the time! (daddy, wasn’t so lucky! he got hexx for giving her change to play with, not tell me, and not keep an eye on her!)
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:55amHi TeaBunny
Your daughter got “buffaloed” at a young age.LOL..Enjoyed the history of gum. My dear grandpa would treat me to a stick of Double-Mint gum when I would visit him & my grandma. He had a cabinet where he would take out his stash of gum & give me some & the old black & white tv was on top…see him now, leaning in his chair & watching wrestling especially, “Gorgeous George” Also remember Liberache(sp) fancy clothes & piano & enjoyed all the music he played. I have chewed gum all my liife and glad there is sugarless gum, Extra & the spearmint & peppermint flavor. I am a high-energy person & gum seems to slow me down a bit! LOL
Report Post »Have a good day!
magadog
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 1:19pmDang TEABUNNY…with all that X-raying, she must’ve been all aglow when that nickel passed!
Report Post »pwnjr
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 5:30pmMy cousin swallowed jacks and his mother had to dig through his poop to make sure they came out.
Report Post »