How Long Does Gum Take To Digest?

You took a mint gum after eating just to freshen up a bit. Then on your way back up to the office in the elevator, you bump into your boss. And he decides to chat with you some business deals that the company was doing. You’re stuck in the elevator with your boss and with a gum in your mouth. How are you supposed to talk with your boss while chewing gum? You simply have to dispose of your gum – the hard way.

Almost everyone has experienced at some point in their life swallowing a gum. It may be for various reasons as to why you end up swallowing your gum. And right after you have swallowed your gum, you remember being told by your mother that gum will stick in your insides and will take seven years before it goes out of your body. This is one sticky situation that you would not want to be in.
However, it’s a good thing to know that gum won’t stick around your body for seven years. The stuff your mother tells you that it will take that long for gum to leave your body is actually, and thankfully, just a myth. If it’s not true, then how long does gum take to digest?
Gum is classified as indigestible, but that doesn’t mean that gum cannot pass through your digestive tract and out of your body.

Gum is composed of about 15% to 30% natural or synthetic gum base. And it is this gum base that enables the gum to withstand digestion that includes your saliva, stomach acid, and other digestive enzymes secreted by your pancreas and liver. The other components of gum, such as sugar, vegetable oil, artificial sweeteners and coloring, preservatives, and corn syrup, can be broken down by your stomach and intestines. It is the gum base that you have to dispel from your body afterwards.

So how long does it take before you can expel the gum from your body? This differs from every person. We have different metabolism speeds, so it takes different amounts of time for people to expel gum. A safe answer would be that gum takes just as much time as it takes for food to be expelled from the body.
How long does gum take to digest? It doesn’t get digested, well not fully at least. How long does gum take to be expelled from the body? It takes just as much time as it does for your food to be out of your body. But remember, this is no excuse for you keep swallowing your gum. Frequent and continuous swallowing of gum could actually lead to clogging your large intestine, one sticky ending that you wouldn’t want to have.