No this is definatley a myth if so i would have a blocked colon because i swallow my gum when a garbage is not around.

First of all, it depends on the kind. Some kinds of bubblegum already start to deteriorate while still inside your mouth. Others - well, let's just say I believe it could take twelve years to digest them. If they remained inside your stomach after you've swallowed them, that is. Of course, they don't. If you can't totally digest the gum, your body will most likely "dispose" of it anyway.

I heard it took seven years because the material it is made of is very difficult to digest - which is why it doesn't dissolve in your mouth. So it sits in your stomach, gradually breaking down with the hard work of food acids.

This is why God invented stomach acid. If someone took pure stomach acid it could burn through a 2 x 4 piece of wood.

No. It passes through your body undigested and is excreted in the faeces. Modern gums are generally made of synthetic compounds (e.g., natural or artificial rubber, elastomeric plastics) and are not biodegradable.

The more often used story is that gum stays in your body for 7 years. This oft-repeated claim may stem from genuine confusion over a term commonly applied to chewing gum: Swallow me indigestible. Although gum resists the body's efforts to break it down (hence the 'indigestible' designation), it does not linger in the stomach. Gum is eliminated as human waste in the same way — and at the same rate — as any other swallowed matter. Granted, it comes out the far end relatively unchanged by the trip, but it does come out on schedule. The longest gum can usually stay in your system is about 3 days. Though parental cautions against swallowing something which was meant to have the flavor chomped from it and then discarded might account for part of the warning's spread, the greater part can likely be attributed to the nature of the substance itself. Chewing gum is quickly worked into an unchanging mass in the mouth that, unlike foodstuffs, barely gets smaller no matter how hard or how long we chew it. Its resistance to being broken down by the teeth works to support the fanciful notion that it has special properties which allow it to lurk in the digestive system year after year. Moreover, since we know we're not supposed to swallow gum, imagination kicks in, inventing a "reason" for this prohibition since the obvious one — that it's not food — lacks an appropriate sense of mystery. And food it's not. About 15% to 30% of chewing gum is gum base, a natural or synthetic indigestible rubbery substance that makes the treat resilient to hours of jawing. Vegetable-oil derivatives can be added to keep gum soft. Glycerin maintains moistness. Sorbitol and mannitol add sweetness to sugarless gum, and mannitol is often used to dust the gum, along with starch. Artificial and natural flavorings, colorings, preservatives, sugar, saccharin or corn syrup, can also be added.

No, your digestive tract doesn't work that way. Just like fiber, your body cannot break down some properties in chewing gum. So, the body passes the gum out of the body.

No, it only takes one day too digest.

yea i did a test on it and it takes over 10 years to digest.

I've never heeard that.

I always heard 7 years, but either way untrue.

it does take many years to digest if you have a lump of gum in a lab and subject it to digestive processes, but your digestive system is a little different from a lab. It doesn't bother to digest it -- you just poop it out. The seven-to-twelve years thing is probably just something moms tell their kids to keep them from swallowing their gum. The fact that this old wives tale IS actually based in science to a degree just lends Ma a bit of credibility. :P

you ever wonder what all those black spots are on the sidewalk in front of the mall? it's gum...

Yahh i don't buy it. But it sounds like a great way to keep kids from eating gum

The stomach can't digest gum at all. It just passes on through.