Expert explains true reality of what happens if you swallow gum and it might surprise you

Growing up many of us will remember those terrifying warnings about chewing gum.

It went that we must never swallow it because our bodies can't digest the gum so it will stay there for seven years.

No matter what the temptation when you can't find a piece of paper or bin, you must never swallow it or it will sit in your stomach festering away until something terrible happens.

And that's before you get into what happens if you keep swallowing gum - eventually it builds up so much that you don't even have a stomach anymore.

It's certainly a story full of vivid imagery that sticks in your mind like gum under a school desk.

After all no-one likes the thought of something they swallowed seven years ago still being there like some gummy parasite.

But body-horroresque warnings aside, how much truth is there in these stories about swallowing gum?

The gross aftermath of some chewing gum (Malte Mueller/Getty)

Registered dietitian Beth Czerwony explained that it would be very difficult for anything to remain in your body for that amount of time.

While you can't digest the base which is used to make chewing gum, it doesn't stay in your body.

“Gum base isn’t able to be digested, so it just stays in your guts all the way through and doesn’t break down,” said Czerwony.

But roughly how long does this take?

“If you’ve swallowed a piece of gum, it’ll come out about 40 hours later in your stool,” Czerwony explained. “Because it can’t be digested, it comes right out whole.”

While 40 hours might sounds like a lot, but it's not that long based on your gut's normal cycle.

Effectively, if you swallow your gum eventually you will have a poo which is slightly gummier than usual. Enjoy that image.

Gum is far from the only thing we swallow which our body can't break down fully, despite the stomach being a very harsh environment.

This is also a bad way to dispose of chewing gum (de-nue-pic/Getty)

Things like corn kernels, seeds, and other tough plant matter can be simply passed through our body without being fully processed.

But while it doesn't spend seven long years in your gut, that doesn't mean that it's completely OK to be swallowing your gum all the time.

“If you do this every day, or multiple times a day, it can cause an intestinal blockage,” Czerwony warned.

“Anything you eat after that isn’t going to be able to get through, which causes a backup that leads to pain and pressure.”

If it gets really bad, you can even rupture your intestines with such a blockage.

So while there's probably no need to panic if you accidentally swallow your gum, don't make a habit of it.

But please, don't stick it under a table or spit it into a urinal either - that's just gross, and someone else will have clean it up.