It is a classic playground scare story - if you swallow chewing gum it will stay in your digestive system for seven years.

 

有个经典的大人拿来吓唬小孩的谎言——如果你吞下了口香糖，它将在你的消化系统里停留七年。

 

But according to scientists at the American Chemical Society, the tale is myth as chewing gum is no more harmful than the rest of the food that passes through our digestive system.

 

It says while gum is harder to digest, it tends to pass harmlessly through our guts¹ much like other foods.

 

When we eat something - whether it be normal foods or chewing gum - it goes through three main phases in our bodies.

 

The first of these phases is the 'mechanical' phase (otherwise known as chewing).

 

Munching² your food then triggers muscle movements which move the food through your digestive tract³ down to your stomach, where muscles 'churn your chewed up food with digestive juices.'

 

The second phase involves enzymes⁵ - biological catalysts⁶ which speed up chemical reactions - which are found in your saliva⁷, stomach juices and intestines⁸.

 

Enzymes 'kick start' the reactions to break down the food into its constituent⁹ parts, whether they are fats from foods such as cheese, carbohydrates¹⁰ from food such as pasta, or proteins from meat or nuts.

 

Stomach acid, which is made up of hydrochloric acid and salts, leads the third phase of digestion¹¹.

 

After this point, whatever remains¹² goes straight down the toilet.

 

How does your body process chewing gum?

 

As you'll have probably noticed, the main difference when processing chewing gum is the fact that during the 'mechanical phase' you don't crush the chewing gum down into tiny bits - that would somewhat defeat the purpose of chewing gum.

 

Instead, if you swallow the gum, it will go down in one big wad before it enters phase two - the enzyme⁴ phase.

 

Most of the molecules¹³ in gum are carbohydrates, oils and alcohols. As with any other food, on their own these molecules are easily broken down.

 

So, while part of your gum does survive digestion, it does not remain in your stomach for seven years.

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