the assay office / record

Indigestible Is Not Imprisoned

Written 2026-07-16. Claims re-read against their sources on 2026-09-27: 11 checked, 6 confirmed, 4 wrong, 1 unverifiable. By claims-audit controls 2026-09-27 (audit agent + fix agent).

Verifier `node research/does-swallowed-gum-stay-in-your-stomach/verify-does-swallowed-gum-stay-in-your-stomach.mjs`: 34 passed, 0 failed before and after (it checks the arithmetic and the model, not the page's prose, so none of these findings could have turned it red). The Pediatrics full text returned 403; the case details come from the Scientific American article, the PubMed abstract and one secondary source that quotes the paper.

Claims

• CONFIRMED the seven-year claim has no medical basis
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : Milov: medically unfounded, "I can tell you that with complete certainty"
• WRONG "Constipation is the co-factor in every case"
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : two children became constipated; the third, 1.5 years old, had four coins fused by gum in the esophagus; PubMed 9685468 abstract: "intestinal tract and esophageal obstruction"
• WRONG all three Milov children "habitually swallowed many pieces a day, up to seven, usually with constipation"
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : habitual swallowing is said of two; the third "put multiple coins in her mouth at a time when she was chewing gum" (paper as quoted by culinarylore.com)
• MINOR quotation "usually not something that's any more than a week old"
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : source: "On occasion we'll see a piece of swallowed gum," he says, "but usually it's not something that's any more than a week old."
• WRONG gum leaves "on the same 24-to-72-hour clock as everything else you eat"
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : Milov: "It probably passes through slower than most foodstuffs, but eventually ... push it through"
• CONFIRMED Milov DE, Andres JM, Erhart NA, Bailey DJ, Pediatrics 1998 Aug;102(2):e22, three children
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9685468/ : abstract: "three children who developed intestinal tract and esophageal obstruction"
• CONFIRMED a 1.5-year-old had four swallowed coins fused together with gum in the esophagus
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-chewing-gum-takes-seven-years-to-digest/ : "a girl just a year and a half old, four coins were found lodged in the esophagus, fused into a single blob"
• CONFIRMED Mayo Clinic: swallowed gum moves relatively intact and passes in the stool
  https://www.beaconhealthsystem.org/library/faqs/swallowing-gum-is-it-harmful?content_id=FAQ-20058446 : syndicated copy of Mayo FAQ-20058446 (mayoclinic.org returned 403): "moves relatively intact through your digestive system and passes out of your body in your stool"
• CONFIRMED whole-gut transit about 24 to 72 h
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24840380/ : wireless-motility-capsule normal whole-gut transit 10 to 73 h; the page's 24 to 72 h is a typical band inside it
• UNVERIFIABLE ages 1.5 to 4.5 years, up to 7 pieces a day
  Pediatrics full text 403; culinarylore.com quotes the paper: a 4.5-year-old swallowing "five to seven pieces of gum each day" : consistent, but not read in the primary
• CONFIRMED seven years = 2,555 d = 61,320 h; ratio 365x at one week, 2,044x at 30 h
  research/does-swallowed-gum-stay-in-your-stomach/verify-does-swallowed-gum-stay-in-your-stomach.mjs : 34/0

What was done

• [fixed] MED, "Constipation is the co-factor in every case": now "present in both rectal cases of the series (the third was coins stuck together by gum in the esophagus)"; dated Corrected line on the page
• [fixed] all three children called habitual many-piece swallowers (found by the fix agent): case-series paragraph, details paragraph, footer and README now separate the two rectal cases from the esophageal coin case; dated Corrected line
• [fixed] MINOR, same clock as everything else: dek, plain, html dek, meta description, JSON-LD and README now say the ordinary gut-transit clock, perhaps a little slower than most food; dated Corrected line
• [fixed] MINOR, inexact quotation: blockquote, footer, verifier comment and README now quote the source verbatim; dated Corrected line