I used to manage a gelato store, and every time someone other than a child would order the bubble gum gelato I couldn't help myself but point out that they just chose the one flavor in the shop that's based on something basically inedible.

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...and this article just made you a liar for all of those years!

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in back to eden it says pickles are inedible....denatured with vinegar...i dont know if thats true or not.

i do remember from one of my classes that food is considered anything that when digested is oxidized and yields energy.

in humans that leaves out things like wood i believe....although other species can digest wood.

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I've always swallowed all the gum I eat, and I'm not about to stop.

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I always swallow too, at about a 90% rate. Good thing I don't chew all that often.

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Pickling is not denaturation. Pickling is an ancient and well-practised form of food preservation. Almost every culture around the world throughout recorded history has employed pickling in a variety of ways on a huge variety of foods, from eggs and meats to vegetables and fruits. If pickles were inedible and of no nutritional value they would have died out centuries ago.

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I'm no doctor, but I would think that the acids in a human's stomach would cause the gum to disolve fairly easily.

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I'm too afraid to swallow gum for fear of choking on it if it somehow gets stuck in my throat. I think I'll continue to wrap it in tissue when I'm done and throw it in the trash. I never put it under seats and try to avoid throwing it on the ground to prevent anyone from getting it stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

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It would have been a better article by far, and much more informative if the article had stated just how long it does take to digest gum.
Why did they leave that out. Okay, it doesn't take 7 years, but how long does it actually take? Does it just pass through like any other thing?
I like to chew gum, but I always spit it out into a piece of paper and throw it in the garbage.

This article did not give a full answer, it just stated that it does not take 7 years. What a waste of time to read that, I knew that from reading this previously, but I thought it would state the facts behind the digestion of gum. Thanks for nothing, really.

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You can't digest gum , it just passes through the intestines and comes out whole if it doesn't get stuck in your intestines.

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Gum goes through your body just like anything else.

Not to sound gross but I've swallowed gum for years, and I've seen it come out the other way with everything else I've eaten the day before.

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#5 .... Thanks for always cleaning up the MESS!

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Gum would pass through your system within hours, depending on your health and diet. It is not broken down and digested. It is only passed through. The gum is treated the same as a penny or any other foreign object one would swallow.

Think about the drug smugglers who fill the balloons with drugs and swallow them. Your body would treat the gum just the same.

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Ok everyone. Vincetta is right. Your body does not actually digest the gum. It can however break apart slightly while in the stomach which causes it to come out in small bits...kind of like corn! We don't digest corn either. Gum just becomes a waste that is later sent out in the form of well you know!

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What if the swallowed gum makes it through the digestive tract and gets stuck at the sphincter opening? Can you blow a bubble if you have gas?

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When my son was little I would tell him that if he swallowed his gum it would blow a bubble out of his behind the next time he farted!

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lmao to #15 that was funny

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My dear 'ol Grandmother always told me that swallowed gum turned into worms in the stomach. My Grandmother never told a lie!

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Thank you all so much for this amusing you have provided me with to get throught this 3 o'clock slump. I am at my desk in tears laughing at the fact that people are actually investing their time in not really the article, but in how much it sucked and how also in the end the thread was actually more useful than the article itself. Thank you all for the laughs.

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Take note, you will step in gum at least twice for everytime you throw it on the ground!!!

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