Most of us chew gum daily. According to the American Dental Association chewing gum is very good for dental health it increases the flow of saliva in your mouth, when you chew after eating, the increased saliva flow may help neutralize and wash away acids when food is broken down by the bacteria in plaque on your teeth, and this by itself reduces tooth decay.

So we all know that chewing gum are good for oral health but I want to talk about sugar-free chewing gum, about sorbitol and aspartame that is used to substitute the sugar in chewing gum. I have wrote an article about aspartame before which is found in diet soda drinks, you can check the videos again, they talk about aspartame dangers and side effects.

Let’s talk about sorbitol now. What is Sorbitol?

Sorbitol, or glucitol, is a sugar alcohol which our bodies metabolize slowly. Sorbitol can be found in cough syrups, sugar free mints, sugar-free maple syrup,some cereals, chewing gum, diet foods, diet drinks and ice creams. Sorbitol occurs naturally in some stone fruits and berries from trees of the Sorbus genus. Apples and pears also have natural amounts of sorbitol.

Sorbitol provides about 2.6  kcal\gram and sugar provides 4 kcal\gram, As a food additive Sorbitol has an E-number E420. It is also used as a laxative.

Sorbitol side effects are diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, rapid unhealthy weight loss, and stomach pain.

An article was published on BBC news about sugar free chewing gum, they gave an example about 2 people who chewed about 20 sticks of sugar-free chewing gum daily ofcourse it contains sorbitol, they had become sick.

The 1st woman (21 years old) had complained from diahhroea and stomach pain for eight months, she lost 22 kg in that time. She had lots of tests before the doctors realized that the problem was sorbitol in her chewing gum, she became underweight.

Another man who was admitted to hospital after losing 22 kg in 1 year and he suffered diarrhoea.

They were found to comsume 20 to 30 grams of sorbitol daily (Each stick of chewing gum has around 1.25g of the sweetener). Dr Juergen Bauditz, from the Department of Gastroenterology at Charite University Hospital in Berlin, said 5-20g of sorbitol would be enough to cause minor stomach problems such as bloating and cramps but more than 20g could cause diarrhoea and, as these cases showed, severe weight loss.

After the patients stopped consuming sorbitol in thier diet, they put on weight again they had lost and all the symptoms were gone.

Sorbitol is used in diabetes products in order to cut off sugar consumption, but diabetes people can enjoy normal sugar (ofcourse there are limits to their sugar consumption) followed by daily activity and a healthy diet plan preferred by a registered dietitian.

So now after you all  knew the bad side effects of sorbitol in sugar-free chewing gum you have to be aware, you have to read the food labels carefully, and limit your consumption of sorbitol to the minimum possible or just chew your regular gum, most of chewing gum have between 15 to 20 calories, it is not a big deal, you are going to burn these few calories with any tiny unintended activity, if you didn’t like the idea you can simply cut a little of your calories in something else in another meal, or just use less sugar in your tea if that will make you happy, another choice you can chew sugarless chewing gum and make your teeth and dentist happy. It is your choice to make, choose whatever suits your life style.

Soda drinks in general have lots of fans including me, it’s refreshing and some people can’t imagine eating their meals without drinking soda drinks. Unfortunately soda drink whatever it was regular or diet contains bad chemicals that may harm our health.

First let us talk about soda drinks in general regardless of it’s regular or diet soda drink, all carbonated sodas contain phosphoric acid which ofcourse throw off your ph balance away and decrease your calcium levels. Dr. Marcelle Pick, an OB/GYN, in her article Diet soda– how healthy is it, to perform a little experiment says,

“Fill a glass with soda, diet or regular, and drop a nail into the glass. Watch it over the course of an hour or two. You’ll find that the soda eats away at the nail in a surprisingly short amount of time. Now think of what it can do to living stomach tissue!”

So next time you reach for a cool refreshing beverage it may be wise to reach past the diet soda, and grab some hydrating water or ice tea instead. But if you must have your soda fix, diet or regular, remember that most everything is okay in moderation.

Another thing to consider when you drink your soda whether it has caffeine, caffeine is a chemical compound that stimulates the activity of the brain, heart, kidneys and intestines. All of us know that too much caffeine may damage our health including, difficulty sleeping, upset stomach, restless, dizziness, headaches, difficultty concentrating and getting anxiuos. So those who have concerns about caffeine they can check for caffeine free products on the label.

Now the most thing that people is worried and have lots of concerns about is the artificial sweeteners in diet soda or the sugar-free beverages regarding what kind of artificial sweetener is used to substitute for sugar, actually in recent past aspartame was the most common sweetener that is used in various diet drink to substitute for sugar, there was some controversy with aspartame that claims it may cause cancer and a variety of health conditions and there have been also controversy with newer sugar substitute like splenda, so far some researches that have been done on aspartame have shown that they don’t cause any particular health conditions or health risk when it comes to aspartame or splenda, But other researches and doctors say that aspartame is toxic it is really toxic, yes it is approved by the FDA but some researches say that it may cause brain tumors and kills you. So in the meantime it’s better to limit your consumption of diet soda drinks until some certain facts be released, something that we are sure about, why exposing our health to any kind of harm or illness??!!

Watch these videos for more details.

His wife was killed by Aspartame, check this.

Dr. Vincent Bellonzi talking about Aspartame and artificial sweeteners.

on the other hand saccharin (that’s an older sugar substitute) is not found recently in diet drinks these days, researches have shown that saccharin actually is associated with causing cancer.

There is a newer sugar substitute on the market made from herbs called stevia, it is available in liquid,packets,tabs and powder forms these actually are more marketed as natural sugar substitute, they are isolated from the natural stevia plant, but once you think of isolating extract from a plant, it loses the sense of being natural because it has been formulated through process system to a product so that may be different than using the actual natural herb, so these diet drinks are coming out slowly on the market they have recently got approval to be marketed. those diet drinks may benefit people because they actually seem to have even lower risk than aspartame and other artificial sweeteners because of coming from natural herb. So in general, researches haven’t shown any health risk associated with stevia, so from that perspective it’s good to have it if you are looking for controlling your sugar intake and they can be included in a healthy diet but remember everything should be in moderation.

I’ve read an article couple a days ago, it really drew my attention on WEBMD it says ‘drink more diet soda and gain more weight’ , honestly I was surprised at the beginning but after reading the article I got convinced somehow. A recent study shows that feeding animals artificial sweeteners made them crave more calories than animals fed real sugar.

Some studies show that if you offer your body something tastes like too much calories but those calories won’t be there, so your body will be alerted to search for those calories but it will not find it, so at this point your body will crave for more and more calories… don’t fool your body. Another soft drinks studies suggests that diet drinks may stimulate your appetite.

Artificial sweeteners can help consumers cut down on calories and control weight, help to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, and potentially prevent cavities, according to the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

To date, five artificial sweeteners are approved by the Food and Drug Administration: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, neotame, and sucralose. The agency regulates artificial sweeteners as food additives, which must be approved as safe before they can be marketed.

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