The Relationship of Phosphoryl-oligosaccharides or Sugarless Chewing Gum Containing Phosphoryl-oligosaccharides Ingestion and Gastrointestinal Condition in Humans: Comparison between Men and Women

Abstract

We developed a sugarless chewing gum that promotes dental re-calcification using phosphoryloligosaccharides (POs). Since the gum contains 79% (w/w) sugar alcohol, it was apprehensive that a gastrointestinal disorder would happen when an excess amount of gum is consumed at once. Sixteen women and 19 men ingested 14 tablets of gum with POs for consecutive 14 days, and the influence on gastrointestinal condition was investigated. On the first day of the experiment, the average times of the transient feces for women and men were 0.9 and 0.2 times, respectively. On the final day, transient feces for women and men were 0.4 and 0.1 times, respectively. The volunteers' gastrointestinal condition was not influenced even after ingesting an excessive amount of POs at once, which was equal to that contained in 70 tablets. These results suggested that the POs did not affect the volunteers' gastrointestinal condition, and that the increase in times of evacuation was caused by sugar alcohol.