

Two German doctors presented case studies today suggesting that chewing too much sugar-free gum could lead to extreme weight loss of up to 20% of a person's normal body weight.

The work, which appears in the journal BMJ, consists of two case studies (pdf). In the first, a 21-year old woman reported experiencing severe diarrhea four to twelve times per day. She'd lost 11 kilograms and had a body mass index of 16.6, substantially below normal. Patient interviews revealed she was chewing about 15 pieces of sugar free gum per day. She stopped chewing the gum and her symptoms disappeared. A middle aged man had similar symptoms and the same miraculous weight-gain upon cessation of gum chewing.

Given that most weight-loss drugs have a difficult time producing one-pound per week weight loss, you might think the scientists would trumpet these findings as a prelude to the newest blockbuster pharmaceutical. But sadly, the drop in pounds was the result of diarrhea and other bowel-trouble caused by ingesting too much sorbitol, a common sweetener that has laxative properties at high dosages.

As John Clemens, a UCLA professor told WebMD about sorbitol, "The laxative effect is very well documented," he said.

"We would not expect the average consumer to consume upwards of 20 sticks of gum a day."

That might have been true before these findings, but now, I expect to add at least 15 sticks of chewing gum to my diet per hamburger eaten. Hey, laxatives worked for the guys on my high school's wrestling team.

UPDATE (2:45pm): Commenter Andrew points out, "It's funny because I jus watched a "House" episode where a woman ran into this particular laxative effect because of her gum haha." To wit: Episode #206, which aired November 15, 2005, proving that science sometimes imitates Brian Singer. Also, we're kidding–laxative abuse is dangerous–so don't really try this at home.

Image: Flickr/sexindirtywater