I'd like to get an estimate of the percentage of chewing gum that ends
up being swallowed.

In the ideal case, I'd like to know: of all units of gum that are
chewed (in the U.S., but doesn't really matter), what percent of those
units are swallowed?  I realize there won't be hard numbers on this,
but if we could somehow get a plausible estimate, that would be great!

Hello Hlg111,

According to the Gum Droppers Segmentation Study, for every 10 pieces
of gum chewed, 0.71 would be swallowed.


Chewing Gum Methods Of Disposal

?For every 10 pieces of gum you chew, how many would you?? 

Swallow                                0.71
Throw or spit from car window          0.96
Throw or spit on floor                 2.10
Throw down drain                       1.22
Wrap it up and throw on floor          0.53
Wrap up and put in bin                 1.91
Wrap up and take home                  0.32
Put in bin                             2.20

SWALLOWING CHEWING GUM
?Have you ever swallowed chewing gum??
Yes    55%  
NO   45%   

Source: 
Gum Droppers? Segmentation Study 
Stage 3 Quatitive Debrief
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/gum/actiongroup/pdf/gumdroppers3.pdf

Gum Droppers? Research Debrief
Stage 1
January 29th 2004
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/localenv/gum/actiongroup/pdf/gumdroppers1.pdf

Gum Droppers? Research Debrief
Stage 2
February 26th 2004 
http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/localenv/gum/actiongroup/pdf/gumdroppers2.pdf


Consumption:

According to the Wrigley Study Hall on The Princeton Review, Americans
consume approximately 180 servings of gum per person, per year and
about fifty percent of Americans chewed gum in the last week.

The Princeton Review 
http://www.princetonreview.com/studyhall/studyhall2.asp
Wrigley
http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/Story_of_Chewing_Gum.pdf 



Search terms used:
swallowing gum  survey 
swallow chewing gum percent OR million
chewing gum consumption

I hope the information provided is helpful!

Best regards, 

Bobbie7

This is perfect!  Better info than I was expecting!  Thanks so much
for the quick response.

You know...I just wouldn't have thought this findable!

Bobbie, you never cease to amaze!

paf

well done! when I saw that topic I thought no way anything substantial
would be found.