Chewing gum weight loss warning

[snopes]

Too much "sugar-free" chewing gum can lead to severe weight loss and diarrhoea, doctors warn.

The cause is sorbitol, a widely used sweetener in chewing gum and sweets, which acts as a laxative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7180800.stm

[Diehard]

Yes I actually saw this on the news last night, and am wandering if this is part of my problems am going to discuss this with my Dr. Thanks snopes for posting this tidbit of information!

Saw an episode of "House" where the patient was loosing weight by chewing lots of gum to help him quit smoking.

[AnglRdr]

Writing in the British Medical Journal, experts gave the example of two patients who had become ill after chewing around 20 sticks of gum a day.

20 sticks of gum seems like a lot to me, but I don't chew gum a lot, so I don't know if it is excessive.

[Little Pink Pill]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

20 sticks of gum seems like a lot to me, but I don't chew gum a lot, so I don't know if it is excessive.

It seems like a lot to me, too, but if she is awake for 16 hours a day, that's a new piece every 45 minutes or so. That doesn't seem so crazy that she's the only one doing it.

[Insensible Crier]

Originally Posted by ChimoladyB

Saw an episode of "House" where the patient was loosing weight by chewing lots of gum to help him quit smoking.

Just to pile on another useless, random fact: the patient was played by Tom Lenk who also played the nerdy character of Andrew on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

20 sticks of gum seems like a lot to me, but I don't chew gum a lot, so I don't know if it is excessive.

It also depends how many she chews at once. When I chewed gum I would chew two sticks at a time.

[Mycroft]

Sorbitol is used in a lot of sugar-free products for diabetics, as some other sweeteners are not suitable (still carbohydrate but not sucrose). Diabetic chocolate for example has a warning about its laxative effect.

[Diehard]

I am a diabetic and that is why I have been chewing the sugar-free gum so much. I didn't associate it with my gastro symptoms.

I had this same problem when I was in college taking a class on chemical dependency counseling. We had to (try) cut out sugar from our diets for a month (it was a J-term class). Me being a chocoholic had to have some sort of cookie to snack on and I got a pack or two of Snackwell's devil's food cookies. They made me sick! I had to go to the school store to buy some pepto just to get things back to normal. Shortly after that I tossed the cookies out and ate small pieces of chocolate like normal and kind of lied a bit in class and our daily journals.

[MegansMom]

Originally Posted by MissBethiepoo

I had this same problem when I was in college taking a class on chemical dependency counseling. We had to (try) cut out sugar from our diets for a month (it was a J-term class). Me being a chocoholic had to have some sort of cookie to snack on and I got a pack or two of Snackwell's devil's food cookies. They made me sick! I had to go to the school store to buy some pepto just to get things back to normal. Shortly after that I tossed the cookies out and ate small pieces of chocolate like normal and kind of lied a bit in class and our daily journals.

But Snackwell's devil's food don't have sugar substitutes in them, just sugar, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Now the sugar free Oreos on the other hand...