Bubble Gum Science

What happens if I swallow my gum?

It’s not a good idea to swallow your gum and we don’t encourage it. However, if you do it will most likely pass through your digestive system and leave your body in a bowel movement.

Your stomach can’t digest the resin in gum. It doesn’t digest other things like sunflower seeds either. As long as there is a small enough amount, the gum resin will pass through. However, in some cases when people swallow a large amount of gum, or lots of little pieces of gum over a short time, the gum can block the digestive tract causing pain and other problems.

Your digestive tract does digest the sugar in gum. If a person chews a lot of sugary gum, the calories can add up!