What happens when you swallow chewing gum

If accidentally swallowed, chewing gum residue can resist digestive processes, but it will eventually pass out of the body after a few days.

Chewing gum moves in large chunks through the digestive tract if swallowed by mistake. Photo: GIPHI.

According to Business Insider, when we chew food, our teeth and tongue work together to break food into smaller particles. Muscle movements push food through the digestive tract to the stomach, mixing with digestive juices.

Meanwhile, enzymes or proteins in saliva, stomach, intestines gradually break down the structure of food, transforming them into nutrients necessary for the body. Acid in the stomach decomposes the remaining food to move to the intestines, and finally eliminate from the body.

Chewing gum is not digested like regular food because it contains either natural or synthetic rubber. Butyl rubber, commonly used in chewing gum as well as car tires and basketballs, is a synthetic rubber that contributes to the ideal chewiness of the gum.

Chewing doesn't affect gum. So when you accidentally swallow it, it passes through your digestive tract in large chunks into your stomach. Enzymes break down the carbohydrates, oils, and alcohols in gum just like regular food, but the gum's rubber base is "immune" to these enzymes.

Even the strongest stomach acids cannot break down the gum component. As a result, most of the gum remains after the digestive system has worked so hard. The muscles in the stomach and intestines will contract and gradually push the gum out of the body over the course of several days.

According to VNE