誤吞口香糖 真的會把腸子黏住7年嗎?

It is a classic playground scare story - if you swallow chewing gum it will stay in your digestive system for seven years.

這是一個經典的聳人聽聞的故事：如果你吞下了口香糖，它將在你的消化系統停留七年。

But according to scientists at the American Chemical Society, while gum is harder to digest, it tends to pass harmlessly through our guts much like other foods.

但是據美國化學協會的科學家表示，雖然口香糖很難消化，但是它和其它食物一樣，都能從腸道排出。

When we eat something - whether it be normal foods or chewing gum - it goes through three main phases in our bodies.

當我們進食時--不管是正常的食物還是嚼過的口香糖--都會在消化道內經歷三個主要階段：

The first of these phases is the 'mechanical' phase (otherwise known as chewing).

第一階段是“機械”階段（也就是咀嚼）。

The second phase involves enzymes - biological catalysts which speed up chemical reactions - which are found in your saliva, stomach juices and intestines.

第二階段是酶促化學反應消化階段—--這些消化酶主要存在於唾液、胃液和小腸液中。

Enzymes 'kick start' the reactions to break down the food into its constituent parts, whether they are fats from foods such as cheese, carbohydrates from food such as pasta, or proteins from meat or nuts. These constituent parts are the nutrients your body can use.

酶能“啓動”這些化學反應，把食物分解成脂肪、碳水化合物或者蛋白質等基本成分。比如從奶酪裏分解出脂肪，從麪糰裏分解出碳水化合物或者從肉類、堅果類中分解出蛋白質。這些成分就是人體需要的營養物質。

Stomach acid, which is made up of hydrochloric acid and salts, leads the third phase of digestion. After this point, whatever remains goes straight down the toilet.

第三階段就是胃酸介導的消化。胃酸由鹽酸和鹽分組成。經過此步之後，剩下的東西就以糞便形式被排出體外。

How does your body process chewing gum?

那麼身體又是如何處理口香糖的呢？

As you'll have probably noticed, the main difference when processing chewing gum is the fact that during the 'mechanical phase' you don't crush the chewing gum down into tiny bits - that would somewhat defeat the purpose of chewing gum.

可能你已經注意到了，處理口香糖，和其他食物最大的不同就是，在“機械”階段，口香糖不能被分解成小塊--如果真的被嚼碎了，一定程度上就沒有達到吃口香糖的目的了。

Instead, if you swallow the gum, it will go down in one big wad before it enters phase two - the enzyme phase.

因此，如果你將它吞下去了，它就會整個一大團直接進入第二階段--酶消化階段。

Most of the molecules in gum are carbohydrates, oils and alcohols. As with any other food, on their own these molecules are easily broken down. However, the video explains 'your body doesn't have an enzyme for the rubber polymers, regardless of whether they're natural or synthetic' so the gum passes through to Phase e stomach acid is strong, it still can't dissolve the rubber polymers in the chewing gum.

口香糖裏的主要成分是碳水化合物、油類和醇類。與其他食物一樣，僅僅是這些分子的話，它們很容易分解。然而，相關視頻解釋稱：“你的身體裏沒有能分解橡膠基質的酶類，不管是天然的還是合成的。”所以，口香糖來到了第三個階段。儘管胃酸很強大，但它仍然不能分解口香糖中的橡膠基質。

In fact, the rubbers are very good at shielding from acids in general - that's one reason we wear rubber gloves for protection.

事實上，橡膠從來就沒有怕過任何強酸，這也是我們在進行涉及強酸類實驗時戴橡膠手套保護的原因。

So, while part of your gum does survive digestion, it does not remain in your stomach for seven years. The video concludes 'even though you don't break down the rubber polymers, your body has no problem moving that lump of gum through your digestive system and out the other end within a day or two.'

儘管口香糖的部分物質確實在消化系統中倖存下來，但它卻不會在腸道中呆上7年。因此，相關視頻最後總結道，“儘管身體無法分解橡膠基質，但僅需一到兩天，你的腸道就能將這團橡膠排出體外。”