Doctors’ warning over chewing gum

Chewing too much sugar-free gum can give you chronic diarrhoea and severe weight loss.

The stark warning comes from doctors in Germany after two people had to be treated in hospital with terrible stomach problems. At first, physicians were baffled.

The two patients, a 21-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man, altogether lost 60 pounds because of diarrhoea.

That is until the doctors looked into their chewing habits.

Both were found to be consuming high amounts of sorbitol, a widely-used sweetener in sugar-free gum that is also a laxative.

The female patient had been swallowing 18-20 grams of sorbitol a day, while the man’s daily dose of 20 sticks of sugar-free gum and 200g of sweets totalled 30g.

Once put on normal, sorbitol-free diets the pair’s stomach problems ceased.

“Our cases show that sorbitol consumption can cause not only chronic diarrhoea and functional bowel problems but also considerable unintended weight loss (about 20 per cent of usual body weight),” the doctors told the British Medical Journal.

“Thus, the investigation of unexplained weight loss should include detailed dietary history with regard to foods containing sorbitol.”