Health Risk of Sweetener Sorbitol

Published in the January 12 issue of the British Medical Journal, an observation found your gum chewing habits could lead to negative consequences. The observation done by Dr. Herbert Lochs and Dr. Juergen Bauditz found two of their patients experienced rapid weight loss due to excessive diarrhea. Both parents were visiting the bathroom in excess of 10 times or more a day. Initially the doctors weren’t sure exactly were causing the rapid weight loss until they asked what they were consuming. They found each was consuming 15 to 20 sticks of sugar free gum a day, with the ingredient in the gum sorbitol the cause of the weight loss. That was equivalent to around 200 grams of the artificial sweetener; about 4 times the amount the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers a safe level. Fortunately in the U.S. the ingredient sorbitol is rarely used as an artificial sweetener, rather its aspartame, a sweetener not associated with harmful effects (in moderation). Both of the patients regained a normal body weight after they stopped chewing gum containing the ingredient. source doc: healthday

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