Hello, ladies and gentleman.
My name is Ashtar. And I have a problem.
You know those disposable paper cups that people usually buy in bulk to go with water coolers or for big social functions? The kind with the wax coating around them?
I chew on the wax. I have a teething habit. An oral fixation. I eat a lot of lollipops and chew on toothpicks and stuff. I suppose it’s healthier than taking up smoking.
But back to the debacle at hand. I work at an office that uses these waxed cups for the office cooler. While I’m working–I tend to gnaw on these cups after I’ve drunken all the water inside. Usually around the rim. I end up getting a lot of wax gnawed off which I then chew, like gum.
I kinda like it. It’s soft. It’s not very viscous or resilient. I usually end up swallowing it eventually.
Could this be harmful for me in any way? Will the wax tear up my insides if I eat too much of it? Should I take up smoking instead? An inquiring mind wants to know!
-Ashley
Isn’t that just paraffin wax? Paraffin is used in making chocolates - makes the chocolate glossy (it also extends the chocolate - IMO, waxy chocolate is a sign of cheapness).
Doubt there’s a problem, after all, they have to anticipate that young children will be using those cups. (Good thing I have a sweetie, or I would offer to help you with that oral fixation )
Presumably the wax on the cups is a “food grade” wax, which means it’s non-toxic. No nutrition, but no harm either. I suppose if you were eating great hunks of it you could give yourself a blockage, but just nibbles should be OK.
Recently in Target I found one of my favorite childhood treats - wax bottles! For those of you unfamiliar with them, they look like little soft drink bottles made out of wax, filled with different colors and flavors of sugar water. You bite the end off and suck it up. I had to buy a pack, they are all gone now, I noticed that I no longer feel the need to chew on them like I did when I was a kid.
Um. I will interject here that it’s okay for a grownup with normal digestion to consume small quantities of wax, but an infant is different. I refer you to “The Case of the Wax Bezoar”, the story of which is found in THE MYSTERIES WITHIN: A Surgeon Reflects on Medical Myths, by Sherwin B. Nuland.
Short version: a 6-week-old infant presenting with severe digestive problems. After X-rays and exploratory surgery, he was found to have a large lump of wax in his stomach. It got there because he was being fed milk that came in wax cartons, instead of formula, and the mother used to heat up the whole carton of milk by standing it in a saucepan of hot water, which would of course melt the paraffin wax, which wasn’t digestible enough for his baby stomach, and which didn’t have other food being sent down with it to encourage it along his digestive tract. After 6 weeks, enough had accumulated that it was filling up his whole stomach and he couldn’t eat.
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