“It’s an elderly myth,” says Simon Travis, professor of Clinical Gastroenterology at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. “I have no idea where the myth came from; I imagine it arose because someone wanted to prevent their children from chewing gum.” Swallowing gum is only harmful to the body if done in excess, Travis said by email, which is very rare. He explained that swallowing three or more pieces of gum a day would be considered excessive. “If you swallow a piece of gum, it will go through your stomach, into your intestine, and out the other end unchanged,” Travis said. “There are cases of gum that lodges in the intestines of babies and even children if they have swallowed a lot, and then causes an obstruction.
But in more than 30 years of gastrospecialty practice, I have never seen a case.” Dr. Aaron Carroll, distinguished professor of Pediatrics and Chief Health Officer at Indiana University, has written several books debunking myths about the organism. Carroll agrees that swallowing gum is harmless, but he wouldn’t actively encourage it. “It has no nutritional value,” he says. “Chewing gum is made from sweeteners, flavorings and aromas. The gum base is a mixture of elastomers, resins, fats, emulsifiers and waxes. So I wouldn’t say it’s healthy”
“If there is very severe narrowing or inflammation for whatever reason, or if there is a motility problem where the stomach or colon is not emptying as it should, then eating something like gum or something that can’t be broken down can stay there and cause problems,” explains Kia.
