Does Gum Stay in your Stomach for Seven Years?

Appreciate it. So, Chuck, I have a question for you. When you were a kid and you popped a piece of gum in your mouth, were you ever told that if you swallowed it that it would stay in you for seven years? I was. I was told that all the time, and I don't choose them today for that reason. Wow, that's that's horrible, because, as it turns out, that's a that's a lie perpetrated by adults on young children, which

is terrible in and of itself. But um, you want to tell us what gum is, Well, yeah, I'm really not sure why they would say things like this because gum is really kind of harmless. I don't know who started that whole the whole lie, but gum is really just four different things. Josh. It's it's a flavor, it's sweetener, it's softener, and it's the gun base. And uh, the good news is that three of those things can be

broken down by our body. Yeah, and uh it's you know, when those things break down actually is when gum loses its flavor, which is when most people toss come out. But I understand you actually swallow your gum. I loved to swallow my gum. I haven't spent a piece of gum out since I was like two years old. So when I was researching this, I was I was really glad to find, you know, personally that that that it isn't true at all. I bet, I bet that was pretty scary before it was for you. You know that

that basse you were talking about. The the component in question right actually dates back to about eighteen sixty a guy named General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Does that name ring a bell? Uh? You know, I think I've heard of him. But what he was the guy who captured the albuma actually slaughtered all of the defenders inside right were remember him? Well? No, you you remember the guys who are defending it. Actually that probably depends on whether you're from Mexico or the US. Uh yeah, two

sides of the same coin. But anyway, Uh. Santa Anna achieved later fame, well kind of fame, by introducing chickle to a guy named Thomas Adams, and his name might also ring a bell. He made that awful gum what a black liquorice gum. But Adams made a mint off of it, and he actually had a contract with Santa Anna. Um too, I guess sharing the proceeds since Santa Anna introduced him introduced a chickle to him. But chickle is you know, it's the gum base Yeah cheek lay actually,

uh it was. It basically took gum into the nineteenth century or the twenties century, now the twenty feet century. So um. Thomas Adams actually didn't honor his contract, and by this time Santa Anna, who was in exile and um had lost a leg, was now left any listen destitute New York thanks to Adams getting us penny listen

and legless penny listen legless. Yeah, not a good combination, um, But long story short, Santa Anna introduced this component uh that that that mothers everywhere have lied to their children about not being digestible to gum. So, I mean, if we have this base, if we have this uh, this this item in question, what you know that can't be broken down? You know? Why? Why doesn't it stick around? Well, it's basically like anything else you put in your mouth,

josh uh. It goes down your esophagus and into your stomach, and enzymes and acids kind of start bubbling up and they break everything down. So far, so good. Yeah, And then what can't be broken down there um gets broken down in the intestines. Um, Your liver and pancreas kind of help out the intestines there. And then what's left after that is just the gun base, and that moves into your colon and it's pretty much a one way street from there. Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to go

the other way because they could be very bad. And actually there have been a couple of occasions that that support from this this old wives tale at gum stays in you for seven years. The poor kid as we call him, we yeah, we've been calling him around the

office poor kid, right uh and and quite rightly. Poor Kid was a four year old who had suffered intense constipation for half of his life, two years, and it's no wonder why No, Actually, his parents, it turns out, had been um potty training him and any time he was successful, they gave him a piece of gum. And apparently this kid was really successful. He was good on the potty, Yeah he was. He was getting like five to seven pieces of gum a day and swallowing all

of them. So I guess his parents were really focused on the potty training and not the fact that he wasn't spinning this gum out. And you know what was the result, Well, well, poor kids taken to the doctor. The doctors finally, I guess, crack them open and they find um, which is, I guess described by the finest assemblage of words I've ever seen in my entire life, a taffy like trail of fecal material real and poor kid, yeah,

ter right. So well, the good news is that they were able to suction all this out of his rectum and send him along his merry way, which I imagine was a life changing experience for poor kiddy. He does stand as a cautionary tale, though, although he didn't crack the seven year mark, he was only four when this procedure was done, which is, I guess a good thing for everybody, right, and the world will never know. It's

like a tipsy pop right, how many lives? If you want to know any more gross stuff about gum and digestion get rida? Does gum really stay in you? For seven years on how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you