What Really Happens When You Swallow Your Gum?

The experts still advise against swallowing gum — but not for the reason you’d think.

“Chewing gum has absolutely no nutritional value so most health professionals would advise against swallowing it,” says Ganjhu. Besides that, the whole point of gum is to chew it until the flavor is gone and then spit it out. “Gum won’t harm or kill you but it just isn’t logical to swallow it purposefully,” says Ganjhu.

And obviously you really shouldn’t swallow a massive wad of gum because it could get lodged in your air pipe and cause you to choke, Gangju says, but that’s the case with swallowing any large piece of food.

TL;DR: gum won’t stay inside your stomach or kill you, but you should still spit it out anyway.

So why is that myth still so popular? It’s probably a misunderstanding of the fact that you can’t fully digest gum, says Ganjhu, even though that means it doesn’t dissolve properly or get absorbed — not that it stays in your body.

“It’s just like the myth that you’ll grow an apple tree if you swallow the seeds,” says Ganjhu. There are a ton of health myths that just won’t die, and this is one of them.

Besides, there’s always an artist out there who has a better use for your chewed gum…

Like Douglas Coupland’s “Gumhead” in Vancouver, Canada, or the Pike Place Market “Gum Wall” in Seattle, Washington.

Happy chewing, everyone!

Credits: buzzfeed.com

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