As kids, we were warned not to swallow chewing gum, because it supposedly takes seven years to digest. But is there any truth to this old wives' tale, or is it simply a myth?
Luckily for those who have accidentally downed a stick or two, it doesn't take anywhere close to seven years for swallowed gum to exit our bodies, according to Julia Zumpano, a registered dietician at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Human Nutrition in Ohio. "It takes 40 hours, just as food does, to make its way through your digestive system and out through stool," she told Live Science.
