What happens if you swallow chewing gum? Interesting No chewing gum between meals.
“Don't swallow gum! The stomach does not digest the chewing gum, and it remains there forever!” - Surely, each of us has heard this warning at least once. From case to case, the phrase may change the length of time that chewing gum stays in the body: a year, 7 years, forever. In fact, there is as much truth in it as in the statement that if a person eats an apple, an apple tree will grow in his stomach.
It is unknown when this myth was born, but, most likely, it owes its birth to parents who tried to protect their children from swallowing chewing gum.
In fact, it only takes a couple of days for the body to get rid of chewing gum. There is no talk of any weeks, months, and especially years.
What happens to chewing gum if you swallow it? Exactly the same as with other products. Through the esophagus it will enter the stomach, where it will begin to be digested under the influence of gastric juice. There will be no problems with digestion with the dyes and flavors contained in chewing gum, but our digestive system will not be able to cope with the rubber components it contains. But this does not mean that you are doomed to wander forever with chewing gum in your belly: the body will independently figure out which substances can be digested and which cannot, and, in the end, will get rid of them in a known way in 2-3 days.
Of course, all of the above is true if chewing gum does not occur on a regular basis. The body may not be able to cope with the daily dose of gum, and then you will have to visit a doctor who will diagnose intestinal obstruction.
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Remember how we were scared as children? Don't swallow chewing gum, otherwise it will remain in your stomach forever! The correspondent decided to digest the testimony to find out if this was true.
Just imagine swallowing a piece of chewing gum in the summer of 2006. The owner of the White House was still George W. Bush. Social network Twitter was still waiting in the wings. "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" topped the film ratings. It seems that all this was a very long time ago, but if, according to the prevailing myth, you had swallowed chewing gum then, your body would have completed the process of digesting it only now, in 2014.
When we were children, we were told not to dare to swallow chewing gum because it took seven years to digest. And even earlier we believed that it would lie in the stomach, invulnerable to the normal processes of breakdown and processing of food. This statement is repeated with unshakable conviction from generation to generation on school playgrounds in many countries. However, is it justified from the point of view of medical science?
Chewing gum consists of a polymer or rubber base, sweeteners, flavors, preservatives, and softeners. Sugar and flavoring ingredients such as peppermint oils are easily broken down and eliminated quickly from the body. Likewise, softeners such as vegetable oils or glycerin are also not a problem for digestive system person. The only ingredient that can resist the acid in the stomach and the digestive enzymes in the intestines is the gum base.
Traditionally, many manufacturers use oleoresin or the resinous sap of the evergreen sapodilla tree, which grows in southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands, as a chewing base. However, since American soldiers brought rationed gum to war theaters around the world during World War II, sapodilla trees have been unable to meet the growing demand.
Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Modern chewing gum uses synthetic materialsToday, most chewing gums use other natural or synthetic polymer bases. Quality Supervision Office food products and medicines the USA allows the use various substances, including butyl rubber, which is used, among other things, for the manufacture of inner tubes of automobile and bicycle wheels and self-tightening elastic films. Each manufacturer has its own recipe for how to achieve superlatives elasticity of the chewing base.
But even if the rubber base doesn't degrade, that doesn't mean it stays in your gut for seven years.
And it doesn’t wrap around the heart, as some people claim. Because chewing gum is just a small clump, it eventually leaves the body through the digestive tract.
Foreign bodies, for example, coins, usually come out of the stomach on their own - provided that their size does not exceed two centimeters. Chewing gum has one undoubted advantage over many other items that a person can accidentally swallow - it is soft.
The only reason why chewing gum can stay in the body for seven years is because of the significant amount of this substance. And even symptoms such as constipation do not always allow it to be detected in a timely manner.
One of these children was a four-year-old boy who had suffered from constipation for two years. He had such difficulty going to the toilet that his parents began giving him chewing gum as a reward to help him stool. The child was given five to seven records a day, and he always swallowed them instead of spitting them out.
Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Chewing gum is not so easy to get rid of...For four days we tried fiber, oils and enemas. Nothing helped. Then the doctors, under anesthesia, removed from the boy’s rectum a mass resembling the consistency of toffee candy. The mass consisted mainly of rubber. Although the age of the substance did not reach seven years, it created considerable problems for the boy.
In the body of another patient, a girl also four years old, doctors discovered a multi-colored mass, which in fact also turned out to be chewing gum. According to doctors, the patient had a habit of quickly swallowing gum so that they would give her more.
The third case occurred with a one and a half year old girl. Doctors found four coins in her stomach, stuck together with a sticky wax-like substance. It turned out that she regularly swallowed chewing gum, and in addition, she also small coins. The families of two children were aware that their children were swallowing chewing gum, considering this habit a sign of frivolity, the authors of the report report.
Swallow chewing gum in large quantities- not the best good idea. However, if you happen to swallow a lump, it is unlikely to cause you any harm. At least, there is no evidence in favor of this version.
And if you swallow chewing gum now, it will not get stuck in your stomach and will come out much earlier than it starts. Olympic Games 2020.
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HOW THE STOMACH WORKS
1. Do you hear a growl? This sound is made when the muscles empty stomach contract and signals that it is time to eat. Even the sight or smell of food triggers the release of gastric juices and enzymes in the stomach, preparing it to digest the food. 2. As food moves down the esophagus, a ring-shaped muscle called the upper esophageal sphincter opens, allowing food to enter the stomach. 3. The stomach muscles relax, allowing food in, and then swirl the food like a concrete mixer until it turns into a homogeneous mass. Gastric juice and enzymes break it down into nutrients. 4. Then the stomach muscles push the resulting mush (called chyme) lower. Through the second sphincter, it enters the small intestine in small portions. 
IMPORTANT FIGURES
2−3: This is the number of seconds it takes for food to enter the stomach from the mouth. 2: This is how many hours it usually takes to completely digest food. 4: This is how many liters the stomach can hold, but most people feel full after eating less than half of this amount. 
WHY DO WE FEEL HEAVY IN THE STOMACH
When chewed food enters the stomach, its receptors send a signal to the intestines to prepare for digestion. This is due to the fact that digestive enzymes in the stomach they work with at different speeds: For example, fats are broken down much more slowly than simple carbohydrates. The stomach releases fatty foods into the intestines gradually so as not to overload the digestive system. That's why a cheeseburger can feel like a rock in your stomach hours later. Some people have difficulty digesting natural sugars found in legumes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, milk and cheese, so the stomach can also retain this food for a long time. If you feel discomfort, try reducing your portions. This will help get rid of the feeling of heaviness. 
NERVOUS STOMACH
During times of stress may occur discomfort in the stomach. This is because the adrenaline rush causes blood to flow away from the digestive system to allow oxygen to flow to other organs. For example, to your feet so that you can escape from a suddenly encountered bear. 
PROTECTING THE STOMACH
Stomach juice kills most viruses, but some of the toughest ones can cause stomach upset. To get rid of the poison, nervous system may make you vomit. The brain tells the esophagus to relax and the stomach muscles to tighten. Pectoral muscles presses on the stomach, forcing food up the esophagus. It's unpleasant, but it's for the better. If you hold back vomiting, the poison may penetrate further and cause diarrhea. It's better not to take risks.CALL SIGNS OF HUNGER
When you eat, the level of ghrelin, a hormone that signals hunger, decreases, and the stomach releases another hormone, leptin. This hormone tells the brain that you are full. A small problem: sometimes this message goes unheard, especially if you eat sweets, fatty or very salty foods. Experts advise placing utensils on the table while you chew food to give your brain a chance to hear the signal that you are full. 
MYTH #1: IF YOU EAT LITTLE, YOUR STOMACH WILL BE SMALLER.
They say that if you eat little, your stomach will shrink. This is wrong. The size of the stomach can only be changed through surgery. 
MYTH #2: IF YOU SWALLOW GUM, IT WILL REMAIN UNDIGESTIVE IN YOUR STOMACH
As children, we were all scared that if you swallowed gum, it would stay in your stomach for a long time. for many years. Yes, chewing gum is not completely digested, but it does not remain in the stomach. Slowly but surely, it travels along with food all the way through the digestive system. 
MYTH #3: VERY SPICY FOOD CAN CAUSE ULCERS
Spicy food irritates an existing ulcer, but is not the cause of its occurrence. Much more often the culprit is the bacterium Helicobacter pylori or the abuse of anti-inflammatory drugs.Can chewing gum really be harmful to your health if swallowed? How long does it stay in the stomach, and should you worry if your child accidentally swallows gum?
Contrary to the belief of many adults and children that swallowing chewing gum is dangerous to health, there is nothing wrong with it. Like any product that falls into gastrointestinal tract, chewing gum is digested under the influence of acids and enzymes, and those of its components that the stomach could not digest are excreted from the body without any problems, without sticking to the intestinal walls and without sticking them together. The only thing that distinguishes the digestion of chewing gum from the digestion of regular foods is the time it takes to remove the remains from the body. Chewing gum may remain in the gastrointestinal tract for several hours or days longer than food, but will eventually suffer the same fate.
Thus, experts say, claims that chewing gum remains in the stomach for a long time are pure fiction. Real danger Chewing gum is not yet swallowed. The fact is that small children can easily choke on chewing gum. Perhaps that is why parents come up with “scary” stories about what will happen if it is swallowed, wanting to wean their children from the habit of chewing gum.
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Gastric juice, which digests food that enters our stomach, perfectly breaks down this very chewing gum into its components and absorbs it as another source of carbohydrates)))). To understand that chewing gum is not at all the rubber from which airliner tires are made, all you have to do is chew along with it, for example... seeds! The chewing gum will instantly turn into “porridge.” So for an organ that copes with mushrooms (the most complex organic matter!), your chewing gum is a piece of cake!)))))
at any kiosk
The used condom can be “chewing gum” - chewed...
It depends on the ambient temperature.
I can look after it and even chew it, and you mine?
Today, the KGB told us about this for half a lesson. Igor swallowed gum, so for half a lesson, you never know, it would get stuck in the throat, clog the bronchial tree, the intestines would stick together, it would be necessary to have an operation))) seriously, that’s what she said) ))
Theoretically, yes, chewing gum is raw rubber, just how to get a lot of it? :) If only in universities and cafes you scrape off kilograms under the tables with a spatula =)
By the way, you can even seal bicycle inner tubes with chewing gum. You take chewed gum, a piece of rubber (or just polyethylene on top of the chewing gum, otherwise the tube will be welded to the tire) and immediately inflate the tube in the wheel strongly.
One time some “sweeper” stuck chewing gum on my jacket in the wardrobe. It was at school. I still have a greasy stain on it, I don’t wear it anymore. I barely peeled off this stickiness. =(
