“It’s an old wives’ tale,” said Simon Travis, professor of clinical gastroenterology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. “If you swallow chewing gum, it’ll go through the stomach, and go through into the intestine, and pass out unchanged at the other end,” Travis said. “There are cases of chewing gum lodging in the intestines of infants and even children if they’ve swallowed a lot, and then it causes an obstruction. “Chicle is a natural latex that comes from something called the Chico sapote tree, or sapodilla tree,” Mathews explained. When to worry about swallowing gumUnless you are in pain or have swallowed a lot of gum, Travis and Carroll said you don’t need to go to the doctor if you accidentally swallow a piece whole.

---

Persons: ”, Simon Travis, “, Travis, ” Travis, they’ve, I’ve, Dr, Aaron Carroll, Carroll, wouldn’t, Jennifer Mathews, William Wrigley, Mayans, Mathews, ” Mathews, ” Carroll, Leila Kia, ” Kia, Kia Organizations: CNN, University of Oxford, Indiana University, Trinity University, Central America, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Kia Locations: United Kingdom, —, San Antonio , Texas, Americas, Mexico, Central, chico, Pima, United States, Chicago