What happens when you swallow gum

If accidentally swallowed, chewing gum can resist digestive processes, but eventually it is eliminated from the body after a few days.

According to Business Insider, when we chew food, teeth and tongue work together to turn food into smaller particles. Movement of muscles pushes food moving through the gastrointestinal tract to the stomach, mixing with digestive juices.

Gum moves into large blocks through the gastrointestinal tract if swallowed.(Photo: GIPHI).

Meanwhile, enzymes or proteins in the saliva and stomach and intestines gradually break down the food structure, converting them into essential nutrients for the body. Stomach acid decomposes what remains of food to transfer to the intestine, and eventually excreted from the body.

Gum is not digested like regular food because it contains natural rubber or synthetic rubber.

Butyl rubber, commonly used as chewing gum as well as tires or basketball, is a synthetic rubber that contributes to the ideal toughness of candy.

The chewing process does not affect chewing gum. So when you accidentally swallow the candy, it moves into a large mass through the gastrointestinal tract into the stomach. Enzymes break down carbohydrates, oils and alcohols in candies like regular food, but the rubber substrate of candy "immune" to these enzymes.

Even the strongest acids in the stomach cannot decompose the rubber component. As a result, the majority of candy residues remain after many attempts of the digestive system. The muscles in the stomach and intestines contract and push away the candy from the body after a few days.