What Happens After You Swallow Gum?

Basic Digestion of Normal Food

1. Mechanical

   • Saliva contains enzymes helps dissolve the food. Mouth and teeth shred the food into little bits. It goes down your esophagus into your stomach with the help of something called smooth muscles.

2. Acid

   • Obvious acidic substance that breaks down the bulk of food into a liquid that goes to your intestines—> absorption of major nutrients

3. Enzymes

   • In your saliva, stomach juices, and intestines

   • These augment chemical reactions allowing your body to breakdown bigger nutrients into smaller ones that your body can then use

   • 3 major types of enzymes

     • Lipase = Breakdown fats

     • Amylase = Breakdown starches + polysaccharides

     • Pepsin = Breakdown proteins

Components of Gum

3 major components

1. Rubber base giving the chewiness

2. Sweetener

3. Flavoring

The major question is: can gum last through the components of the digestive system?

• Obviously beats the mechanical digestive part

• Beats the enzymatic part because your body doesn't have enzymes that can digest the rubber base component

• The stomach acid is very strong, but not strong enough to dissolve that rubber base of the gum

Does this mean the gum stays in your body?!...NO

It'll be removed from your stool in a day or two

DON'T start swallowing gum for fun because if you do it enough it theoretically can cause obstructions…