Primate Brow Flash

On our trip to Texas and before, I was chewing a lot of sugarless gum to entertain myself and try to manage my need to always be chewing on something. On our trip, I became very irregular. I have heard from an informed source that the sorbitol in sugar-free gum causes intestinal discomfort, but I didn’t think I was susceptible. Then, as I started to unwrap another stick of the stuff while I looked around for a plastic bag to put my pants in, it hit me: I had been chewing ever greater amounts of this stuff and it might be worth it to cut it out. When I quit, my problems went away.

Sorbitol is a sugar-alcohol that breaks down slowly and causes an “osmotic purge” because it isn’t absorbed well in the intestines. I can tell just by the sound of “osmotic purge” that yes, that is what was happening.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm and is filed under General, health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.