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And no one likes flabby jaws!

And if you get the sugar-free stuff, hell, what's the downside? You don't swallow it, so it's like all of the benefits of candy with none of the getting fat. But you might have a problem in the opposite direction.

The culprit is a sweetener called sorbitol, a chemical that is found in many sugar-free gums, and one that is poorly absorbed by the intestines. Substances that can't be absorbed tend to shoot right through. So what we're saying is, sorbitol is a laxative. Don't get us wrong, it's fine in small amounts. But if you're the type of person who always has to have gum in your mouth, and is always swapping it out for a fresh piece ... don't stray far from a toilet.

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"At least I still feel fresh!"

This was discovered when an article from the British Medical Journal presented cases of two patients who displayed some serious reverse-Captain America weight loss, done entirely by way of thundergut diarrhea explosion.

At first the doctors were baffled by the symptoms, but they soon discovered that the patients chewed 15 to 20 sticks of sorbitol-containing gum a day. When the patients were made to give it up, the symptoms stopped and they were able to healthily gain back the weight they had lost, though presumably not before garroting someone with Bubble Tape in a withdrawal-fueled haze.