Gum?

[shebear]

Hi everyone,

I'm just starting my IC diet (two weeks in) and today I realized that I have been chewing gum without a thought. The brand I normally chew is Wrigley's Cobalt, but I see it has aspartame in it. Has anyone found any IC friendly gum? Or should I just stay away from it altogether at first?

Thanks,

Shebear

[Julie B]

I will be interested to hear what other people say to this. I don't have problems with gum, but it certainly could give people problems. I usually chew Trident or Extra--both have artificial sweeteners.

Great question!

[Sarojini]

While my IC tends to to do what it wants, there are a few things that are major triggers for me, and artificial sweeteners are on that list. I get sick from even chewing gum with them in it! Aspartame also tends to worsen my migraines in addition to my IC, so I just avoid it at this point.

Also, if you have IBS like I do, you might want to make sure you avoid gums with sorbitol and/or sucralose - both can act like laxatives in a lot of people, and if you get diarrhea like I do, you probably don't need one of those

However, I am sure there are a lot of others out there like Julie who can tolerate artificial sweeteners in small doses, like in gum. We are all different, and I just happen to be one of the unlucky ones who reacts badly. You might want to try not chewing the gum for a week or two to see what happens... if there's no difference in your symptoms, chances are you're okay with the gum.