2023-10-02 13:27:10
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – What will happen if you accidentally swallow gum? There is a common idea that it will stay in your stomach for seven years.
However, this is not true.
Simon Travis, a professor of clinical gastroenterology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, said via email that swallowing gum does not harm the body unless it is done in excess, which is rare.
He continued: “There are cases in which gum settles in the intestines of infants and even children when they swallow a large amount of it, causing an obstruction…but during more than 30 years of specialized practice in gastrointestinal diseases, I have never witnessed a single case.”
Dr. Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics and chief health officer at Indiana University, has written several books debunking myths about the body.
Carroll agreed that swallowing gum would not cause you any harm, but he discouraged the act.
He added that the gum “has no nutritional value.”
Since when do people chew gum?
Ancient peoples used chewing gum to ward off thirst and hunger, according to Jennifer Matthews, a professor of anthropology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and author of “Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, From the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley.”
Matthews said the Mayans used a substance known as chicle for chewing. It comes from the “Sapodilla” tree, which is widespread in southern Mexico and Central America.
The Pima Indians chewed spruce sap for thousands of years, before Europeans acquired and commercialized the habit, according to Matthews.
When to worry about swallowing gum?
Travis and Carol said that you do not need to see a doctor if you accidentally swallow gum and do not feel any pain.
However, people with problems with the digestive system, which is a series of organs linked together in a long tube from the mouth to the anus, may be affected.
“If there are no blockages, no strictures, then things will go well,” said Dr. Leila Kia, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
She continued: “If there is any stenosis or if you suffer from really severe inflammation for any reason, or you have a problem with movement, where your stomach or colon is not emptying the way it should, then certainly eating gum, or any other non-degrading substance, may “It’s really causing problems.”
Kia explained that Crohn’s disease is a common cause of inflammation of the digestive system, and can cause it to narrow, stressing that doctors recommend avoiding some foods such as raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, popcorn, and chewing gum.
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