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By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Chemistry since 2001

Does Chewing Gum Stay in Your Stomach Forever?

Friday January 13, 2006
If you swallow your gum it will take longer to digest than a sandwich, but it won't be in your stomach forever, amassing into a giant chewed-gum-wad together with other pieces you have swallowed over time. Your stomach is a very acidic environment, with a pH of 1-3. It produces 2-3 liters of gastric fluid a day, composed mainly of hydrochloric acid and peptidase enzymes, which is more than sufficient to deal with a stick of gum.
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Comments

December 4, 2008 at 6:39 am
(1) lily tebbs and emma ward says:

i thought that if you ate chewing you would die

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