Is swallowing gum dangerous?

1. If you swallow chewing gum, it will form a lump in your stomach that will last for seven years. Or your intestines stick together. There would even be a gumball tree growing in your stomach. With these myths, parents warn their children to spit out chewing gum. Is there some truth in it?

1. Chewing gum is nothing new. In 2007, a British archeology student discovered during an excavation in Finland a piece of tar made from birch bark that still contained the teeth marks. This flexible stone age material is probably the oldest chewing gum. The ancient Greeks chewed resin from the mastic tree. Indians used sap from trees mixed with some herbs for this purpose.

War

1. In the 19th century, chewing gum as we know it today was invented. It was made from the sapodilla sapodilla, a tree in Central America. In the Netherlands, we were introduced to the elastic stuff during the Second World War. After the liberation, American and Canadian soldiers handed out chewing gums. They always got chewing gum in their provisions, because it would keep you relaxed, but also alert.

Ingredients

1. Chewing gum consists largely of gum, a substance that is elastic and keeps the ingredients together. You can make gum from the sap of various trees, but nowadays it is mostly synthetic. In addition, it contains glucose syrup, colors, flavors and sugar or sweeteners. Most modern gum does not contain sugar, but is sweetened with xylitol, sorbitol or maltitol. That is a lot better for your teeth, but these sweeteners do have a mild laxative effect. If you are sensitive to it or use a lot of chewing gum, the sugar-free variant can therefore cause diarrhea. And you don't even have to swallow the gum for that.

Swallow

1. If you swallow chewing gum, it will end up in your stomach. Some ingredients, such as the sweeteners, are broken down in your stomach and intestines. But most of it is resistant to your acidic stomach contents and digestive enzymes, so your digestive system cannot digest it. Yet no gum lump will form in your stomach. The movements of your stomach and intestines transport the piece of undigested gum to the exit. A chewing gum ends up in your toilet a day or two after swallowing.

Children

1. In people with a severe narrowing of their gastrointestinal tract, for example due to Crohn's disease or a tumor, swallowing gum can cause a dangerous blockage. The same is true for small children, as their digestive system is narrower than that of adults, so they are more likely to get constipation. They can also choke. Not spitting out gum by mistake is not a disaster, but some children have a tendency to eat a lot of chewing gum, as if they were candies. Three cases of young children have been reported in the scientific journal Pediatrics where doctors had to remove a stuck lump of gum from the stomach or intestines. The children were sometimes found to eat up to seven pieces a day. A toddler also liked coins. The coins stuck together with chewing gum caused coughing and swallowing problems that sent him to the emergency room. Chewing gum is therefore not suitable sweets for young children.

2. In people with a severe narrowing of their gastrointestinal tract, such as Crohn's disease or a tumor, swallowing gum can cause a dangerous blockage. The same is true for small children, as their digestive system is narrower than that of adults, so they are more likely to get constipation. They can also choke. Not spitting out a gum by mistake is not a disaster, but some children have a tendency to eat a lot of chewing gum, as if they were candies. Three cases of young children have been reported in the scientific journal Pediatrics where doctors had to remove a stuck lump of gum from the stomach or intestines. The children were sometimes found to eat up to seven pieces a day. A toddler also liked coins. The coins stuck together with chewing gum caused coughing and swallowing problems that sent him to the emergency room. Chewing gum is therefore not suitable sweets for young children.