In our daily lifes, many actions that we perform link us to various commonly believed and adopted sayings. Our world, since the beginning, has evolved a lot carrying various superstitious beliefs and traditions. As the time passed, we found ourselves adopting many myths/ commonly adopted sayings as a truth of our lifes without focusing on the facts behind them.
Almost all of us have enjoyed chewing a gum of various flavours. I still remember I used to buy a box of chewing gums from every time I got pocket money from my daddy.
Many of us have also gone through the time when suddenly we gulped the chewing gum directly into our stomachs and than get scolded by our parents. I still remember we used to hear those common scary echoes that;
Don't swallow chewing gum—it will stay in your body for seven years!"
It's origin is unknown but frankly speaking, that scared the hell out of me as a kid. In addition to that, we also used to hear ;
The gum that went inside you body will stick to your innards like it sticks to the bottom of a desk.
Imagine an external body gets attached to your internal gland, how will you feel about it. Ughh! Disgusting!
In order to study about this commonly known saying, we firstly need to study the structure of a chewing gum and it's link to our fragile body.
Structure of a Chewing Gum:
Chewing gum as the name suggests is a substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. It is soft, cohesive substance composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating and resin components, which contribute to its elastic-plastic, sticky, chewy characteristics.
The Food and Drug Administration defines chewing gum as a "nonnutritive masticatory substance" thatbis composed of synthetic, rubberlike or natural materials with preservative antioxidizing agents.
A Gum due to it's non dissolve-able characteristics, is not recommended for children and adults to swallow.
However, if swallowed does it means, it will harm us in anyway. Let's dig down a little further.
Effect on Human Body After Swallowing a Gum
If the legend saying is true, it means if we swallow a gum it will stay inside our body for next seven years or at least would have evidence of that gum in their digestive track but when testified there were no such evidence found.
According to Rodger Liddle, a gastroenterologist at the Duke University School of Medicine;
"Nothing would reside that long, unless it was so large it couldn't get out of the stomach or it was trapped in the intestine. He added that "swallowed quarters usually pass, but that larger coins or objects might not."
Perhaps, these rubbery substances are immune to digestive process and are harder to digest, they could probably pass through the digestive track like most of the other food stuffs and come out pretty unmolested.
According to a gastroenterologist Dr Lisa Ganjhu, of the NYU Langone Medical Centre in New York;
“Your GI tract is very strong, if it can digest a tough steak it can digest gum. Once it’s in, it’ll go out like everything else but there is no specific time frame because everyone’s digestive system motility is different.”
Basically, when a gum is swallowed some of it's components are broken down by our body such as sweetners while the rest is largely indigestible.
Why is it advised not to swallow a Gum?
As per Dr Lisa Ganjhu added: “Chewing gum has absolutely no nutritional value, so most health professionals would advise against swallowing it.
Chewing Gum might not harm us in any way but it just isn’t logical to swallow it purposefully. Everyone has a different body and different size of organs. Swallowing a big gum could cause you to choke, if it got caught in the wind pipe, but this can also happen with any other type of food as well. However, to stay safe it's only best to chew it until it loses its flavour and then spit it out.
Busting the Universally Existing Myth
As we learnt in the above article, swallowing a gum (not a big wad of it) will have no effect on overall body. It doesn't harm your body now it has good and nutritious effects on your body. It's a common and simple misunderstanding of that gum is impossible to digest. Many people believe that it stays in your body, when it can still be passed out as a whole.
It's just like a myth that;
“It’s like the myth that you’ll grow an apple tree if you swallow the seeds.”
It's only recommended to avoid chewing such substances that have no positive effect on your body. We can just chew them to get the entire flavor and than spit it out for the good.
So, now we know that there is a logo behind every myth we have been hearing since childhood, stay updated and full of knowledge
Myth Busted!
Disclaimer
The content provided in the article is for general information only. In case of any medical emergency, please consult your GP to stay updated about your health.
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