When I read this article, it reminded me instantly of my sister-in-law who brought back packs of chewing gum recently from a neighbouring country and my niece happily helping herself to them. You see, chewing gum is banned in Singapore!

According to the latest issue of the British Medical Journal, doctors at Berlin’s Charite Hospital found that consuming too much of this sweetener, SORBITOL, widely used in “Sugar-free” “Low-calorie” chewing gum and sweets can cause serious bowel problems.

This warning came about due to the unusual cases of two patients, one a 46-year old man and the other a 21-year old woman who were suffering from chronic diarrhoea, abdominal pain and severe weight loss. But the german doctors were stumped when they conducted their blood tests, colonoscopies, ultrasound and computed tomography scans which resulted that the patients were otherwise healthy.

The patients were then asked about their dietary habits and the woman said she chewed more than 12 sticks of sugar-free chewing gum each day, while the man chewed about 20 sticks plus another 200g of sweets each day. What an interesting diet! But when they stopped this habit, their bowel function returned to normal in a year. By the way, it is also found that Sorbitol can also cause considerable unintended weight loss by about 20 percent of the usual body weight!

What is Sorbitol?
It’s a white, odorless, sweet-tasting powder and has a smooth mouth feel with a sweet, cool and pleasant taste. It has two thirds the calories of sugar and is about 60 percent as sweet as sucrose.

Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol or polyol and a sugar substitute. It is widely used in numerous food products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, humectant and texturing agent. It is commercially produced by the hydrogenation of glucose and is available in both liquid and crystalline form. It is poorly absorbed by the small intestines and is known to have laxative properties. It does not raise insulin levels as much as sugar and therefore useful to people with diabetes. It also does not promote tooth decay.

Anyway, I don’t think the majority of us adults would go to that extremes, would we? but what about the children though…?