Misc Gum causing intense bloating

[H1erophant]

I bought a pack of gum today not knowing that it contained phenylketonurics until later inspection, after the whole pack had been consumed. I am not allergic to this/these chemicals as I realize some people are. I can find no other explanation for the INTENSE bloating and gas that I experienced today. I was chewing the gum practically all day, piece after piece. After some time I could FEEL and HEAR gas moving around inside my body and at some points I felt severely bloated. I was wondering if anyone knows if this is a symptom of ingesting too much of this/these chemicals too quickly or if something else might be up.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give or information you can provide.

 

[sekio]

I changed the title of your post. Phenylketonurics is a word that describes a class of people - people who have a genetic condition called phenylketonuria. It prevents them from metabolising phenylalanine (found in aspartame) properly. I doubt you're one of them.

In the US and Canada any prodyuct containing aspartame has a warning: "PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE". It's mandated by law, but that doesn't mean that the contents are harmful!


I bet your gum had sugar alcohols in it - xylitol, erthyritol, one of those - and those are what's causing your gas and bloating. It's harmless - your gut bacteria are just having a chowdown on the sugar alcohols that your body doesn't absorb as well as "normal" glucose, and are making lots of gas.

Simple solution - avoid sugar alcohols in large quantities. Stick to "normal" sugary gum, or don't eat a whole damn pack at a time.

 

[H1erophant]

Thanks for the answer, this gum was sugar free, maybe it was the sweetener? Usually I wouldn't chew on so much gum, but I had taken something which causes my jaw to move and gum seems to help quite a bit

 

[sekio]

this gum was sugar free, maybe it was the sweetener?

Exactly.

Xylitol is a sweetener derived from sugar that has something like 1/4 the caloric value. It kills bacteria in the mouth and is advertised as a tooth protectant for that reason. As such it gets used a lot in gum, sugar free or not.

The problem that some people get is that xylitol isn't effectively absorbed by the intestine, so your gut bacteri just eat it all and give people horrible gas. In addition it can draw water out of your body and act as a laxative. So don't eat a whole fucking pack of gum at once.

Other sweeteners that cause this effect are mannitol and sorbitol. Check the ingredients for anything ending in -itol, or "hydrogenated starch hydrolysate" (mixture of all these chemicals).