Health Buzz: Don't Make a Habit of Swallowing Your Gum
Though it typically leaves your body pretty much intact, it could prove dangerous in certain cases.
By David Oliver , Associate Editor, Social Media |Oct. 30, 2017, at 12:43 p.m.
Chewing gum is a practice particularly frowned upon in most formal settings, from school to the workplace, and is often mocked. But the real problem with chewing gum lies in what could happen if you swallow enough of it – and it's not pretty.
There's a myth out there that gum stays in your stomach or intestines for an extended period of time, though Alaska-based family medicine physician Dr. John Cullen says that's not the case. You just really don't digest it, he says; it will come out naturally and virtually intact through bowel movements. He's never actually seen gum in someone's body like this in his practice – and he's a family physician who performs frequent colonoscopies and endoscopies, tests that allow doctors to examine what's inside various parts of the body, where this sticky situation would occur.
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/health-buzz/articles/2017-10-30/dont-make-a-habit-of-swallowing-your-gum
