What really happens when you swallow chewing gum

Marie Claire is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Does it really stay in your body for seven years?

Remember being told, probably when you were at school, that if you swallowed a piece of chewing gum it would stay in your body for seven years?

The news would have been delivered with grim authority by a classmate, possibly the same classmate who told you their brother had seen a UFO.

But is there any truth in it? Well, the American Chemical Society have investigated into the myth in the video below.