Sugar-free chewing gum makes you dangerously slim

A study by German physicians has shown that consuming too much sweets and sugar-free gum containing the artificial sweetener sorbitol can lead to extreme weight loss and other stomach-related problems.

Doctors say consuming sweets and chewing gum with sugar substitutes may help the weight-conscious people shed calories, but excessive use of the sweetener sorbitol, which is widely used in sugar-free products like chewing gum, sweets and some cereals, can cause severe weight loss, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Writing in this week’s British Medical Journal (BMJ), Juergen Bauditz, MD, of the University of Berlin, and colleagues described case history of two patients who suffered with chronic diarrhoea, abdominal pain and severe weight loss after chewing around 20 sticks of gum a day.

The two cases were mysteries for the medics until they asked about their chewing habits, and discovered their excessive use of the sweetener.

The first patient was a 21-year-old woman, who suffered diarrhea and abdominal pain for eight months that caused her to lose about 24 pounds, and the other patient was a 46-year-old man, who lost approximately 46 pounds because of diarrhea.

The woman patient admitted swallowing 18 to 20g of sorbitol while the male patient chewed 20 sticks of sugar-free gum a day and 200g of sweets daily, totaling about 30 grams of sorbitol. A stick typically contains 1.25 grams of sorbitol.

Surprisingly, once the two patients eliminated sorbitol from their diet, the gastrointestinal problems of female patient stopped and a year later she gained back more than 15 pounds, while the male patient gained back 11 pounds within six months and his diarrhea problems disappeared.

The authors suggest that doctors should inquire about dietary habits when a patient has unexplained weight loss.

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

The authors concluded that people should be warned of the dangers of too much sorbitol, including diabetics who often eat dietetic foods containing sorbitol.