great video and message! I recently came across an entire dedicated shelf of "sugar free candy" at my local grocery store including chews, hard candy and chocolates that were full of sugar alcohols. the pendulum is starting to swing against the addition of so much sugar in our foods, but the tradeoff is going to cause a different set health issues
This sounds familiar. I ran into a similar issue with the protein in oats. Gluten is fine for me, but anything with oats causes me the same kind of problems common with gluten allergies. Fortunately I found a study in Australia that discovered the same thing a couple of years before I starting having problems again and went the whole food diary route. It caused me a bunch of back problems for a couple decades before I found out what it was (docs said they thought they saw some spinal stenosis in an X-ray of my tailbone, but it didn't seem like it should be causing me that much problem), and cutting it out helped me immensely. No very low back pain anymore, and no "intestinal" problems.
Medical doctor here. Thanks for the informative video - I had never heard of this diagnosis prior to watching your video. I'm off to studying the heck out of it right now.
There is nothing to "study" but to become aware of what you are, namely a predator. People who think they have to "study" have forgotten their forefathers from a hundred thousand years ago and think they can eat anything but mother nature cannot be deceived and punishes you for despising her. Connect with nature and the problem is solved because there are no "diseases" except sitting in the dark cave all day looking at two dimensional images to find out what you are looking at, but you see absolutely nothing on a two dimensional one computer screen...
Gummy candy and also gummy vitamins are made from sugar alcohols. So I can't take gummy vitamins due to my own bowel difficulties with sugar alcohols. If one of your patients tells you they are suddenly experiencing loose stools, ask them if they are taking gummy vitamins.
It’s common with xilitol candies and sweets. Pregunté por esto en clases de nutrición y bioquímica y averigüé que se produce porque arrastran agua y eso provoca diarrea. Supuestamente son seguros en pequeña cantidad, pero es variable según sensibilidad del paciente.
“This is why I couldn’t figure out the problem, it’s because you need a chemistry degree to figure out what’s in your food” that line hit hard. It’s so true. I really enjoyed this because I have been going through the same thing
While I don't think I suffer from any severe food intolerances, this is still the reason why I've removed heavily processed food almost entirely from my diet.
@@kennethng9653 It's a bad time to be a scientist. Grant-based financing means all that scientists do is making promises like politicians, then frantically cobbling together experiments, then trying to squeeze any at least vaguely meaningful nonsense out of them and take it past peer reviewers (who are themselves in no better situation). Good luck if you try to base your own research on literature that is published in this mode. In fact, I am quite certain that science as such doesn't exist anymore. Just a withered husk of its glorious former self, that nobody has the courage to bury... Because even when everyone barely understands how science is supposed to work, they still have this vague idea that science is supposed to be neat stuff, and things drag on as they do. My life certainly got all around happier when I abandoned this rat race under the guise of science.
As an airline pilot, I suffered from this mystery while eating on the road for 30 years. Eat at hotel... go for a walk... run back within 30 minutes. I retired. Now, since making all my food at home, I've never had this problem reoccur. Thank you for solving this.
Sabine dropping the f-bomb! This makes it very clear how frustrating and impactful this situation was. Very glad you’ve managed to identify the problem. The modern “food” industry has been a blessing and a curse - enough food to feed the planet and can stay edible for long periods, but the subtle effects on different individuals or even the possible long-term consequences for an entire population are somewhat unclear in many instances.
You forgot to mention the "whole foods" end of the spectrum, adding every dodgy and untested plant product they can acquire from anywhere, because it tickled the measurement equipment in the right way, and it's floor sweepings cheap. Because the impoverished locals selling it know it's poisonous.
You say a blessing and a curse. I say a curse - period. On every measure that counts, humans are getting less, not more, healthy. I saw this happen with my own eyes in South Africa. Before Apartheid fell, the country produced almost all of its food - a natural by-product of sanctions and a very effective international boycott that was obviously needed. When 1994 came around, 'free trade' was promoted by the new government, which essentially meant the mass importation of cheap processed food from other countries, principally the US. This turned the fittest and healthiest population in Africa into the fattest and most obese in the space of a single generation. Today, the influence of such 'food' can be seen everywhere in South Africa. Lots of US companies have invested in SA agriculture and factory plants that use the same ingredients, preparation methods, and preservatives that you find in the US. They also use some things, like hydrogenated fats, that are no longer legal in the US but still able to be used in foods in SA. Travel to the country and you will know precisely what I mean the minute you step off a plane: pot-bellied men and women wheezing their way around the place looking half dead. 'Snacks' loaded with so much sugar and preservatives they never go off. Morbidly obese children. These are products of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The diseases they create are products of big agriculture and industrialised farming. The companies that produce this 'food' need to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Ha! I missed that! But glad she did because yes, it most definitely is frustrating af dealing with issues like this with NO help, even when you pay through the nose for it (US-ian here *sigh).
@@Liberal.Linda. yes, I deal with some of the same symptoms as Sabine so this is of great interest to me, although my diet is relatively good this just goes to show that good, healthy and traditional foods are likely the best fuel for our bodies, and that I should reduce my intake of some of my cheat foods even more.
@@brianwelch1579 yes, the natural / whole foods industry is also profit driven and preys on people who believe that everything natural is healthy. The most egregious one I’ve heard is a “black earth” scam by unfortunately my fellow Canadians which was selling supposedly very good dirt for people to bathe in, and some people would actually consume it. Turns out it’s contaminated with lead and arsenic as it was being dug up from near a dump. Thankfully they were stopped by the authorities but undoubtedly the grifters behind it will come up with a new angle.
“We don’t know what you have but it’s the only thing left on the list- please go away” is so, so common and I wish our medical system was set up to handle this better. The most prestigious job in medicine should be one that doesn’t exist- diagnosis of complex cases. There are probably millions of people needlessly suffering because they can’t get to the right specialist through primary care.
The problem is that we aren't that far in medicine yet. People in a 100 years will look at our understanding of body functions as we look at those of 100years ago. We haven't reached some magical endpoint where research was able to find and communicate everything yet. So yes, we'll suffer and die from stupid stuff, just like people 100 years ago died from now preventable diseases.
False. Internal medicine is dedicated to the diagnosis of uncommon conditions. Anybody suffering from an undiagnosed ailment ought to consult one by referral. It helped me greatly after having hit the brick wall of medical incompetence among family doctors.
That would be "House" from the TV show. He is wrong more often than right but he does, usually, get the right diagnosis near the end, before the patient dies, usually.
Yes and we actually don't have a way to invoke full testing of things they don't standard test for as well. Plus of course at this point mental health folk should come in because it's not always in your head but sometime it really is. In my case i'm very resistant to stimulants need more stimulant for my ADHD than I can get legally. I'm so take me into a hospital hook me up to monitors and give me stimulant though an IV up to the point it starts being bad for me and then set my maximum dose that way.
I always remembered on the show, "House" where a guy came in complaining of diarrhea and House saw that he was chewing gum and asked him if gum chewing was a habit for him. The guy said yes, so House told him to stop it. Gum usually has Sorbitol in it which can cause diarrhea. Told him to also avoid sugar alcohols. I've tried to avoid it ever since then, but yeah, it's everywhere.
Stopping by to say thank you. I've had stomach issues my whole life. Could never figure out what was wrong. After watching this video I suspected this was the missing piece. I took a sensitivity test and it confirmed I have a severe sorbitol sensitivity. Your video helped me more than you know. The mental torment of not knowing what is wrong even after all the tests and Doctor visits. This one video saved me! A million times, thank you.
I knew about sorbitol but this opened my mind completely to the whole array of sorbitol-like compounds in food and is most definitely a factor in my life long stomach pain
@@LWNmusicI had a look at "check my body health", that's going to be a hard pass for me. The pretend to be able to know what you ll struggle to digest based off bio-resonnating a strand of hair. Their FAQ is filled with justification why two tests may be different, or why your know allergies won't be showing on their test. Smells like snake oil peddlers
@@MBobLamy I'm usually skeptical of these things too. All I can speak of is from my personal journey. Not only did it show my sorbitol sensitivity it listed other foods and additives I've avoided over the years because I've had issues with GI issues. I'm not saying it's perfect but I can validate it's accuracy from person experience from elimination diets
I was actually semi-relieved when I was diagnosed with Crohn's, because at least it's something treatable and the progression is observable, unlike IBS. I mean, Crohn's (IBD) is probably a "more severe" disease than IBS because it's actually causing inflammation and cancer risks and such, but it's very nice to have the doctors actually know what they're doing. It took a few tries over about a year, but eventually we found a medicine that got rid of all the inflammation, and my symptoms decreased significantly. My impression is that people with IBS usually can't hope for a medicine to come and fix all their problems like that.
There are many IDK diagnoses in medicine, all fields, you just don't know about them. Also, your trust in modern medicine is astounding. We're barely scraping the surface at this point. It will take a thousand years probably.
@@n0ame1u1 Yeah, I totally get that. I went a year when I was 14 without any relief for my symptoms, because all the blood tests were normal, but it felt like I was slowly dying. Then all of a sudden, everything went south fast, within a few weeks. Turns out I had type 1 diabetes and my body was using all of its compensatory mechanisms to keep my body chemistry in order as long as it could, until it failed and I was literally dying. I was sort of relieved to be diagnosed, even though it’s a serious and chronic illness, because then I knew there was an actual treatment and that I wasn’t suffering from some serious, but unknown, illness.
I had surgery last year, and they had me on a special diet for 2 weeks before & after. It basically was protein shakes and sugar-free stuff. So for a month, i was miserable with horrible intestinal issues. I was extremely weak and thought this was the way life was going to be from now on... thankfully a Physician Assistant i talked to mentioned "sugar alcohols" and adjusted what i could eat. By the next day I was already improving and continued to feel WAY better over the next few days.... what a difference!! If i hadn't talked to that one person, I'd probably still be suffering. .... Thank you for your video and helping to spread awareness 😃❤️🖖
It's wrong that this is a part of hospital nutrition. Processed drinks and puddings that tick off the boxes for "nutritional requirements" but are filled with sugar alcohols and thickeners that ruin our gut.
I'm 72, a chemist, and I am still learning what foods, chemicals, affect me negatively. One of my hobbies is cooking. Since retiring, I make almost everything I eat from basic ingredients. I was thinking of trying sugar alcohols, but Sabine, you convinced me I don't have to learn that lesson the hard way. Thank you
This! Eating and cooking with basic ingredients makes such trouble go away. I avoid processed food like a plague. As a bonus, basic food is much cheaper.
@@jojojo9240 "Just try" isn't as easy as it sounds. People in the modern world eat lot of different things during the day and one would have to eat that one test food for 2 or 3 days before one can safely confirm it's a problem. It can be done, but requires a lot of discipline. Better is to simply drop entire classes of food. Like all the factory processed ones. The longer the list of ingredients, the worse.
Its a moving target; we change. Coffee is tough on me, I just have to say no after two cups. Milk is slightly more dangerous. Potatoes are just mildly irritating. I hope I have the opportunity to add to the list.
My son has been to so many Dr's and we don't have an answer yet.My older son found your video for his younger brother.This illness has ruled our family's lives for the last 8 years.I am so grateful for your time you put in to creating this video .Thank you
My daughter also has suffered with the same issues since birth. Took 25 years to find out it has all been caused by damage at birth to her vagus nerve (in her neck). Go see a chiropractor who works with children.
@@PaulaWhetzel My daughter's umbilical cord was tightly wrapped 3 times and her neck. We both barely survived her birth. At a week old she started going lethargic and turning blue. After hospital stays and multiple tests doctors just shrugged and said she had reflux and would outgrow it. She never did, it only got worse. Every test don't on her came back nothing was wrong. When she went to college doctors told her since all testing came back negative it was psychosomatic and put her on antidepressants. Those increased her issues to the point of breaking her mentally. A RN friend told me about vagal nerve damage. Having that stimulated with micro current was the first time my daughter had relief from her life long abdominal pain and nausea.
Carnivore is the answer. My wife had terrible bowel issues post gallbladder removal. I got her into this diet due to her having non alcoholic fatty liver disease. She is now completely regular and has ZERO intestinal issues. We don't even pass gas anymore.
Thank you for this video! IBS truly feels like: "Yeah, we don't know, good luck." I did a full FODMAP diet with elimination and re-adding certain groups. When it was time to test out sorbitol, I tested 5 blackberries and I was in constant pain and cramps and bloating. "You need a chemistry degree to figure out what's in your food" is so relatable and made me so angry, because it shouldn't be this hard. At all. I had been taking Rennie's against gastric acid, which also contained sorbitol for some ungodly reason. The companies making these products HAVE to start caring about this, because there's no other way out of this despicable situation.
Those companies will never care because they have an interest in keeping your issues going. They need to help you just enough so that you appreciate their product, but they definitely would NOT want to cure you. It's an ethical question that imho cannot be solved in the current economic system. There should be a higher incentive to curing people than to keeping them as paying customers.
FRACKING THANK YOU. FINALLY, IT ALL MAKES SENSE. you just described my exact symptoms AND the same kind of nightmare I've been through trying to get it diagnosed AND how I feel about it all perfectly in the first 2 minutes of the video. You're literally my hero right now.
I have had stomach issues for many years. This video has given me a new vector of attack for my problems. Please don't hesitate to put out a video that might help someone! I am glad to have watched because it gives me new information about what might be causing my problems! Spot on about the chem degree to understand your food ingredients. I have always hated that.
Mine just started at age 50. I've had issues a few months. I may try this. I thought I was getting better with probiotics, but then I had issues this morning. I was thinking it was yogurt causing me problems as that was something I was doing different the past couple of days. Time to read some labels. I'll have to get the magnifying glass as my eyes are getting a bit rough at age 50.
Also be aware that problems due to drinking cow's milk actually come in two forms. Everybody knows about lactose intolerance. But there is also a wholly separate, unrelated issue of insensitivity to proteins found in cow's milk. It took me a couple years to figure this out. No thanks to my doctors who seemed oblivious to it. Drinking any products with milk in it makes me horribly ill. That includes lactose-free milk.
Nice detective work Sabine. I'm a family doctor. The problems you describe are very common. Sadly the reason for such symptoms is often isn't picked up for many years, if at all, and the cause is misattributed to some else - like the irritable bowel. Usually a dietitian can narrow down the cause with an elimination diet, but that first requires recognizing that the problem could be diet related. Thank you for your video Sabine - it's a great reminder to me to be ever vigilant.
Well, polyol intolerance is a subset of IBS. All the FODMAP compounds are things that normally should be broken down or absorbed, but aren't, which causes the gut flora to about creating a new Zeppelin. Many Danish dieticians tell people to start with a FODMAP free diet, and then introduce the groups one at the time after they've become symptom free. Many with IBS only react to a subset, so living on an overly restrictive diet is a needless bother.
Please make sure you spread the word about Whole Food Plant Based Nutrition for optimal health! Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Brooke Goldner, Dr. Saray Stancic are good docs to look into- they have lots of vids, as well as sites, books. They are role models to me, as a med student :) God bless!
@@bryant475 most of the whole foods and nutrition industry is complete BS so you need to be very careful with it and make sure everything you recommend has been thoroughly checked out and studied.
Great comment doctor, I hope you stay vigilant when they try to force a medical experiment on the human civilization yet again. Our immune system depends on a healthy gut flora. Not on some new faulty experimental v.
What you've described is EXACTLY what my mother has dealt with and took her years to figure out what she can and cannot eat. Despite being a doctor, she had no clue how much distress food additives could cause people.
Olestra. Need I say more? Oddly, despite a mildly quirky gut for some additives, I managed to tolerate that crap. Likely, because I don't do that much junk food to begin with.
Doctors don't really get nutrition training. They're kind of left with barebones guidelines made by non scientists and are demonstrably wrong. as it turns out
Doctors have no clue. I’ve been dealing with this kind of garbage for ten years and I’ve had one (1) doctor ever suggest to me something beyond dairy or fructose or gluten might be an issue. And that doctor wasn’t any of the gastroenterologists. I’m guessing they read something like this somewhere. They are all useless, in my experience.
Thanks for this! I've been on a warpath against these additives when I discovered this problem over a decade ago myself (same way you did). Maltitol is the worst! Some tips and anecdotes that may help others: 1. Anything in the "sugar free" section in a supermarket, designed for diabetics, will have these additives. Stay away! 2. Become a reader of ingredients. I think I discovered this sooner than you as I grew up in a Kosher home, and learnt to read Ingredients from the age of ~7. However, this has nothing to do with Kosher laws - other than if you're Lactose Intolerant, in which case if you see a Kosher symbol (OU or K in the USA), as well as the word "PAREVE", that means that it is milk-free. 3. Beware all sugarless drinks! Especially Energy Drinks with "zero calories". They will kill your gut with these additives. 4. The caveat to that: Aspartame (diet Coke, etc) does NOT have this problem! And ignore all those claims that it gives Cancer (nonsense). The problem is that the anti-aspartame crowd are winning, and the big companies are now replacing Aspartame with Sucralose (horror!). So be VERY careful when drinking sugar-free drinks these days. I am unclear if the new "Zero Sugar" Coke variant has Sucralose - it depends on the country! They also add these to most "fruit" juices these days in order to cut "Sugar levels" due to regulatory purposes. Fighting Obesity is also causing us all gas/issues... 5. Doctors will IGNORE you if you tell them this! Gastroenterologists do NOT accept what Sabine is saying! I've discussed this with half a dozen stomach doctors over the years, and they've told me that I don't know what I'm talking about [For the record, I have a PhD]. 6. My personal opinion is this may be related to other enzymatic imbalances, as well as microbiome issues. Once again, "Western Medicine" won't research this, as they don't "believe" it. 7. As Sabine said - this is a sensitive issue... but I'm old enough to remember people "passing gas" less frequently. People always farted, but in the USA, I think they do it more than when I was younger - probably due to these additives [Note: look up Ben Franklin on gas :) ] 8. I have allergies too - and many medications, including anti-allergy ones, add Lactose as a sweetener. Joy (Allegra does not, for reference) 9. Regarding the Nasal Spray she mentioned: Xylitol is the additive, but it's not for Sweetness, it's because it prevents bacteria from sticking to surfaces. So as long as it's in your nose, it can help prevent sinus infection due to bacterial build-up. I also hope this Comment - which will probably be lost in the endless stream - will help at least one person!
Also watch out for cough drops/ lozenges/ candies/lollies. Especially bad. Also green apple varieties like Granny Smith. Organic apples seem less problematic.
Thanks for sharing. It's funny what you say about aspartame. I hadn't looked into this, but I have noticed that too. Contrary to what people have been telling me, aspartame is the one thing that doesn't seem to cause me problems. I guess they're right in that I should just drink tea and water 😅but aspartame seems the lesser evil.
@@Hamstray The problem is the molecule itself: Sucralose and all those "-lose/tol"es (!) that have alcohol are not easily broken up by the enzymes in your body, so instead, the bacteria (primarily e. coli) break it up instead, and the process releases gas(es). This is also true of Complex Sugars - essentially, this is the reason that beans give you gas: Your body may not be producing enough/at all of the enzymes that can break these two-part molecules up. (I'm simplifying). Another note: this is all an "unknown" in science - your gut is constantly changing, which is why you may have a "good" day. and a "bad" day after eating the same thing. Even Lactose Intolerant people (like me) have good and bad days. As a (former) scientist, it drives me crazy that we know so little about this stuff... Point is - stay away from even small amounts of Sucralose. Splenda is just a brand name. And I'm unsure how bad "Stevia" is - just because it's "Natural" doesn't mean your specific body can handle it.
@@zeevabrams stevia extract itself is a glycoside. However, a large proportion of sweetener products advertised as stevia are bulked with other ingredients to mitigate aftertaste and improve ease of use, particularly in baking. Probably the most common additive is - you guessed it - a sugar alcohol (erythritol). Which is naturally occurring and fine for many people, but important to be aware of if you are looking for stevia as an alternative to other sugar alternatives. Once again, the lesson is to check those labels. 😅
And THIS is why I believe we need a "food and medicine" class in school. I am German and have a job that requires an overview of food declaration laws. There is a difference between sweeteners that have 200x the sweetness of sugar and "Zuckeraustauschstoffe", sugar exchange ingredients which are similarly sweet to sugar. This is partly because you can use a sugar exchange substance just like you would use regular sugar, for example you wouldn't need to change your baking recipes much, whereas with a 200x sweetener, you'd only need 2-3 grams to achieve the same sweetness, which completely throws off the amounts of flour/eggs etc. you would need. In a chemical sense, sugar alcohols are in fact sugars. Usually, sugars (monosaccharides) are grouped into ketones and aldehydes. Imagine a chain of C atoms. A ketone has an oxygen (O) sticking out somewhere in the middle of the chain. An aldehyde has a similar oxygen, just sticking out at one of the ends of the chain. If I take a sugar (doesn't matter if ketone/aldehyde sugar), and make a reaction called a "reduction", the oxygen that sticks out of the chain gets a hydrogen stuck to it, which turns it into an OH group. This group is called hydroxyl or alcohol group, and all alcohols have (at least) one of these. In essence, you turned your ketonic/aldehydic sugar into a sugar alcohol. This is where the name derives. Since sugar alcohols aren't absorbed into the intestines as well as sugar, they help a great deal with calorie and/or insulin management. However, the bacteria in your colon might have a party producing gas from them (as they would with sugar, but that got absorbed, remember?). In the end, it is not a question of "natural vs artificial", but instead weighing the (numerous) cons of sugar against the cons of sugar alcohols. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Thank you for taking the time to explain! It's always interesting to hear a level-headed expert explain some of the nuance of their domain in a way that people outside their field can understand.
20 years ago. in my thirties, I discovered that onions and garlic were causing my painful gas, bloating, and IBS. Ever since, it has been very dificult trying to avoid foods cooked with onions and garlic.
@@jimmydesouza4375 I have a friend that also can’t eat onion and garlic. I found it hard to manage but not only her but her whole family live without consuming them so it’s possible
@megmodaff5989 Yes, if it's a raw freshly sliced onion, I can tolerate it. Sliced or whole, if an onion sat for a long period of time, cooked or uncooked, I would feel uncomfortable.
@jimmydesouza4375 Yah, most cooked recipes with brazed. sauted or fried onions or garlic make me feel uncomfortable . However. If a cook slices a freshly picked onion without cooking it, I can have onions on my hamburger. 🙂
omg, I think you just saved my son. These symtoms (including the negative colonoscopy) are EXACTLY what is going on with my kid. We'll give this a try ASAP.
If it doesn't work it could be other food intolerances, that you can try to figure out. For example: Tomatoes and peppers are in so many meals it was hard to figure out that I don't tolerate nightshade fruits... Good luck either way.
When I was a young teen I had this favourite soda that I would drink everyday. It took a while to notice that I would be tired all the time, my muscles would be weak, and my mood would always be low. When the joint pains started my mom suggested I stop drinking the soda and a few days later I felt better. Turns out the soda had aspartame and sugar alcohols. Other sodas with regular sugar never made my joints hurt.
Takes me back to my days as a lab technician doing Salmonella Epidemiology. . . any unknown strain would be tested against those sugars. . . seeing how they grew on agar containing the various sugars. And yes, part of it was seeing how they produced gases. This was in the 1960s
Fantastic. Please provide a list of papers we can read on these tests. Of course now that you have told me where to look I will look in Google Scholar. Thanks. You are very kind.
Brucella loves Erythritol, one of the few bacteria that prefer sugar alcohols. "The presence of erythritol in the placentas of goats, cattle, and pigs has been proposed as an explanation for the accumulation of Brucella bacteria found at these sites." Meanwhile, sugar alcohols can have antibiotic behavior for some species of bacteria. The bacteria's mileage may vary...
Sugar alcohols make me extremely sick . The first time I discovered this I thought I was having some kind of organ failure . I finally figured out the erythritol in the Lillys brand chocolate I bought at Whole Foods was the culprit . It was horrible!! I started cramping , sweating and just feeling like I was going to have a blow out . This was years ago but I believe it gave me a headache too . Definitely killed my guts ! Never again!
I am a third year medical student. Thank you so much for explaining the condition, symptoms, and your struggle with it. You are very brave for making this information known on UA-cam. I will be sure to watch for this in future patients of mine.
Thank you for going deeper than what is taught at medical school. Please, please also teach yourself about endometriosis. It's so badly taught and there is no formal training and millions of us suffer because of this.
Thank you Sabine for this video! By three minutes into this video I was ugly crying out of sheer joy. ❤ It took me over 20 years to figure out what I was allergic to. Just 2018 I finally realized it was sugar alcohols! Cutting them off made all the difference in the world to me, where as no doctor was able to help me at all. And thank you for including list of classification numbers, there is some that I don't have on my list yet. And I hope you see this comment because when it comes for apples there is two cultivars that are safe for me to eat. Royal gala and red delicious. And then there are those that I cannot eat at all like pink lady and honey crunch. And I do miss watermelon terribly. But no amount of "it tastes nice" is enough for me to risk the reaction that for me usually starts within five minutes of ingesting sugar alcohols. It's so validating to know there are people like me out there. I've yet to meet anyone in real life.
@@sethtenrec They are all 'supermarket apples' designed, literally, for prolonged 'shelf life' = hard as bullets and mostly flavourless, versus the older varieties that had flavour and texture but shorter supermarket handling resilience !
You aren't "allergic" to them. You can't metabolize them and they upset your digestive system. Not the same thing. I know I'm being pedantic, but an allergy is a very different and much more serious thing and the term should be used correctly.
"Irritable bowel syndrome which seems to be doctor's speech for we don't know what you have, but it's the only thing left on the list, now please go away." EXACTLY my experience. GI doctors use IBS and IBD as a catch-all when they don't feel like doing any more work to figure out what's wrong.
IBS is, I was told, or was at the time, a diagnosis by exclusion, as you said. IBD is not. Irritable bowel sydrome cannot be seen with a scope, biopsy or blood test. Inflammatory bowel disease can.
This is something I've said to people for years after my experience years ago with other things. I have noticed some issues when I chew gum so this reaches me at a good time to catch another issue I had suspected.
I’ve had UC since I was 17 and I am now 70. I understand fully the discomfort of abdominal pain and bloating. I have not found a single thing that causes this. But you do learn to live with the pain, gas and bleeding. Most days I can block it out, although nearby toilet facilities are a must! I’m very glad you have found a cure for your problem.
I gave up on talking to doctors when I was an infant. I figured out for myself what caused my migraines and 'IBS', and now avoid 'less nutrative sweeteners' as much as I already avoid 'non-nutrative sweeteners'. It's not easy - my diet is increasingly restricted as my government obliges food manufacturers to medicate the populace - but I'm functional; something I wasn't before. I get the impression that my GP just uses Google for everything. It's like IT Support: half the time, their efforts are akin to 'turning it off and on again' and hoping for improvement.
Thank you so much for posting this! I'm a fellow “IBS” sufferer, and this has given me another avenue of attack. The digestive system is insane, and biology is so complex! I really do appreciate you making this video.
Switch to a species specific diet and see what happens to your IBS. Cookies are a new invention in the 300.000 year history of Homo Sapiens. No other animal is constantly changing its diet except for us..
It is so complex, and we know startlingly little about how the entire digestive system works. Part of this is a function of technology -- we didn't have the ability to investigate it at a genetic/molecular level until just recently -- and part is the same reason we don't know much about the brain: you can really only study it while active and in-situ, and that's very, very hard to do.
I'm was about to try a low dose of an anti-depressant for digestive issue because nothing else seems to consistently work. But now am going to try cutting out diet drinks with artificial sweteners to see what happens. It is crazy how all you can do is try treatments hoping something works. The government needs to fund research on diagnosing digestive issues because it is an epidemic. Obesity got mounjaro and ozempic to quash that hunger, but what about all the digestive issues? The digestive issues aren't going away when people lose weight.
After 45 years of suffering, I diagnosed myself. I can't digest the sugar alcohols, fructose, lactose or whole grains. I follow a low fodmap eating plan, only eat white breads, pasta and rice, and don't eat dairy except hard cheese. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I have a whole new life.
great video. Don't feel stupid. Many of us suffer from issues the doctors diagnose as "you don't have anything." This is always reassuring when the pain comes because now you know the pain is not real, so nothing to worry about
Your communication style in this video had a distinct different feel, it almost felt more natural in the expression than the science presentations, like less scripted or robotic in a way. Loved the video, glad to hear you're doing better now!
@@christ8590 I've heard Sabine drop the F-bomb a few times in the past, as well as other colorful metaphors, when she spoke her mind about politics. It was always outside of her regular science news videos.
This is likely what's been my problem for years. I've had exactly the same symptoms and lengthy analysis of my bowels as you, and I'll be digging into this ASAP. Thank you for sharing this sensitive topic.
its worth also looking into "Cruciferous Vegetables" a family of related common vegetables we learnt the other day that my spouse cannot tolerate. Finally we connect the dots after their 5th majorly negative "experience" caused by chowing down on a large portion of individual vegetables from this family on different occasions.
I have IBS, have for over a decade, and sugar messes me up both gastrically and skin-wise (cystic acne). I switched to stevia, monk fruit, some other sugar alternatives, a few years ago. My ibs didn’t get worse, but my energy did. My gynecological health did. I wasn’t even eating sugar alcohols, specifically. -.- Unfortunately, I now suffer from not enjoying my diet at all because it’s so restrictive and I can’t even have sugary treats once in a while.
even after I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, I asked my gastroenterologist what I should be eating to alleviate the problem. He exact words, "diet has no effect on disease". Needless to say, he's no longer my doctor. Scary part is he was top decorated and graduated at the top of his class from a very reknowned university.
@@AP-nx6xo The event I described occurred 10 years ago. I have already found solutions to the problem. The specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) is for people with my condition, which can also include Crohn's, Celiac, and Autism. University of Chicago Rush Hospital ran a 3 year clinical trial to prove the efficacy of the diet. In short, it's a diet based on how food breaks down when digested. The lining of the intestines have small openings to allow digested food to pass through and enter the bloodstream where it can be transported where needed. when the gut is inflamed, the openings are reduced preventing many nutrients from being absorbed. The unabsorbed food continues downstream and enters the large intestine where millions of different bacteria in symbiotic homeostasis are awaiting. Some of those bacteria feast on the food and multiply very rapidly upsetting the balance of power and produce gases as byproducts. i.e. fermentation. this is what leads to gas and bloating after a meal. This gas produces a pressure on the intestine and irritates it. If it continues for prolonged periods of time, it can cause ulcers to form. hence the term ulcerative colitis. The solution is to only eat foods that break down into the smallest molecules, referred to as monosaccharides (e.g. leafy greens, berries, melons, lean meat, fin fish), as only they are small enough to get through the openings in the intestinal lining. Foods that break down into disaccharides or polysaccharides (e.g. starches, rice, potatoes, pastas, fatty meats, shell fish, ultra-processed foods, ...) must be avoided as they will contribute to fermentation and exacerbate the problem. full details can be found in the book "breaking the vicious cycle" which has been a best seller on the subject for more than 50 years. There are also derivatives of the diet such as the GAPS diet, Autoimmune Protocoal (AIP), and FODMAPS as each patient responds differently. All of these diets also explain why Sabine is having the problem with sugar alcohols as they are not monosaccharides
Technically Dr. is not incorrect. It’s an autoimmune disease and very different from what this video is about. Your immune system haywire and attacking your own tissue. Is there a relationship to food - maybe? But studies have not shown as direct a link as we like (despite a million and one YT videos saying it’s absolutely food). Actual studies show the link isn’t as clear as we’d like. Possibly dairy is implicated in the pathogenesis but we just don’t have firm data to say yes or no. And fad diets rarely, if ever, work to decrease UC. I guess the proper answer would have been - we don’t know. Also please be wary of internet doctors, celebrities and people trying to sell you something. These people ALWAYS have the answer but are simultaneously looking to sell you something or get more subscribers.
Doctors are not allowed to encourage patients about diet and what not to eat because it'll cost them their jobs and cut into their profit mill. Healthy and dead people are of no use to doctors who are big Pharma's agents. Sick people are.
Medicine is late to this game. I graduated UCSD med in 2003. Nutrition/diet wasn't taught for one minute in class or on the wards. Changing now, but remember, in medicine, there is just too much out there for one person to absorb. But if you have a GI issue, I'd be looking at the younger GI docs. Probably trained in diet by now with all the issues society is having.
Congratulations on an excellent piece of research. No need to apologise for sharing it with us. I'm not intolerant to any food products but a good friend has 'IBS' and I will be sharing your findings. This reinforces the importance of full disclosure on processed food products. Good research, very well communicated. It's what you do so well.
Sugar alcohols cause digestive problems for most people and in sufficient quantities, pretty much everyone. The reason is simply that they're slow to digest and so are only partially digested in the small intestine. This is why they have a lower glycemic index than sugar. On passing into the large intestine, they're digested by bacteria and that process creates gas. I once tried replacing all the sugar I add to foods and drinks with maltitol. The amount of gas that produced was something to behold!
@@antonystringfellow5152I find food easily too sweet. And after years of knowing better, every now and then I buy a product saying "with less added suger" to find out it has sweeteners. My body just thinks it's sugar and produces insulin. The result: I don't like the taste and feel bad.
If I suspected sugar alcohols I would also suspect Liver involvement as the Liver processes alcohols and Liver pain is abdominal pain. High sugar alcohol content might also be handled the same way as overconsumption of alcoholic drinks, and one might be damaging their liver with sugar alcohols over time in the same way and alcoholic does. Running Liver Function Tests might be a very good idea to rule out the Liver as the source of pain.
Huge respect to you for sharing your experience with the aim of hopefully helping others. Very admirable and your contribution to the community is appreciated.
Hi, Sabine. My husband and I also went on our own reasearch mission regarding diet. Its been 25 years. We are in our 60s now and in good health for our ages. We limit processed foods, avoid foods with nitrites, buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat, and prepare our own meals. We also purchase high quality vitamins, supplements, and probiotics. We cured our digestive issues. Your gut IS the basis of your entire immune sytem. Vitamin D3 and magnesium are also needed. We also do not get sick anymore-- even from the common cold. The last visit we had to the doctor was 8 years ago, just to have him say we are in good health and he was perplexed when we told him about our diet.
The age tolerance thing makes a lot of sense. I always used to eat tons of fruits, dried fruits and drunk fruit juices and smoothies. Turns out my body reached its limit at some point, the symptoms were terrible without going into TMI detail. Turns out it was sorbitol/sugar alcohol intolerance. I still eat fruit (some fruits have a lot of sugar alcohols, others do not not) and drink juices but never on an empty stomach. The order you eat things in really matters.
I would suggest Jessie Inchauspé (aka Glucose Goddess) Instagram, UA-cam content, along with her book. A big part of what she talks is the order in which you eat the food matters in a context of lowering your glucose levels which is key for a healthier body.
About 6 years ago my wife and I went to a health center that looked at a much broader spectrum of food influences, genetics and nerve function. All far beyond anything insurance will cover. One of the simpler things I learned is I have elevated mercury levels. For years, decades, I put up with ear pain that no one could explain. Finally get referred to the right specialist at a university hospital - a rare form of migraine. The bottom line is this: 1) Thank you for sharing this. Until someone explains the details, our discomforts are often dismissed as just something we ate. 2) I’ve been dismissed so many times as “That happens to everybody” and “There’s nothing wrong with you”. We MUST become our own advocate.
Was it high levels of mercury that caused that rare migraine for you? How are your ears now? I've been suffering from ear problems for years but (I'm 32) and I would love to know what helped you. Have a great day.
Try being a woman or black 😂it’s 10 times worse. If you have anxiety? Oh then every symptom you have is bc of that. I used to think doctors were gods..now I know they’re just particular scam artists for whatever their field is
Tested lactose intolerant? Something like 90% of people who cannot tolerate dairy or gluten are not actually intolerant to those substances but it is instead the glyphosate from weed killers that causes the intolerance. I can tolerate a lot more dairy (amount ingested over time) that is organic than non-organic dairy as an example.
I believe there are actual milks that contain lactase in them (the enzyme used to break down lactose) that you can try. Or try finding lactase supplements and ingest them everytime you wanna eat something with lactose, perhaps that can help.
Friend of mine always got stomach pain after longer driving trips. Had no idea what caused it. Ate lots of sugarfree candy behind the wheel for focus and out of habit. Only when he ran out one day and felt great he found the cause of his problem…
Sabine, I love your sense of humor, but also your simple kindness, prioritizing others well being ahead of your own privacy in this case. Thanks for just being a great person. :-)
Very informative video. And it fits so well to a med school lecture I just went through in preparation for an exam: sorbitol is actually converted to fructose in the small intestine. It then uses the GLUT 5 carrier, so the same carrier as fructose usually uses to enter the cells of the intestine wall. As some people seem to have only low capacity to resorb fructose that way when you eat sorbitol and now have all that extra fructose you can't take it in all at once, and it is going to ferment in your intestine leaving you with the symptoms described.
I thought I was allergic to fructose because I was getting sick from eating dried fruit. Allergy test was negative for fructose but do you think it could be the problem your describing here?
Fructose is one devilish substance. If it wasn't for this, lots of sweet stuff wouldn't be as detrimental to one's health. Even regular sugar (cane/beet sugar) is made up one ring of fructose (5 carbons), and one ring of glucose (6 carbons, which is the regular sugar used in energy production / metabolism), joined together. Every bit of fructose is a burden on your system. But glucose powder can substitute for regular sugar on many occasions. And it's not as sweet, too... Love, Ally 👩🏼🦰🇦🇺🐟🍇🏝️🍊🏖️🌈🙋🏼♀️
As someone who's suffered from GI trouble since birth your quick rant at 3:05 had me rolling!!! It's so true, too. Just when you think you've learned all the no-no additives they go and tweek a compound just a touch and then add 30 letters, a couple numbers and a dash or two...
I’m actually crying - thank you so much!!! I’ve been suffering almost 4 years and beyond confused for the same attempts to cut out various foods. I’m so hopeful your solution helps me too… Danke sehr! Sie helfen mir! Hopefully your voice can be a change to the food industry. Again - thank you.🙏
It absolutely will help you if you have been eating sugar alcohols. Keep in mind that some are worse than others (because some break down more in the GI tract). If your symptoms go away after avoiding all sugar alcohols for a week, then you might try some of the more benign ones to see if you can tolerate them (like erythritol). Definitely stay away from the worst ones like isomalt, and be wary of common ones like sorbitol and maltitol...
@@FromDesertTown “it absolutely will help you if you have been eating sugar alcohols”, says who? You know nothing about this person yet you feel confident enough to make statements like that?
@@conorstewart2214 well yeah, sabine just explained they break down in the GI tract and feed your microbiome to the point where it can become hyperactive and irritate the bowel. Cutting sugar alcohols out means no food for the bacteria, so less GI upset, even if sugar alcohols arent the cause of the upset, overactive bacteria is very probably the cause (if not a a defect or a pathology, but after 4 years you'd rule most things like this out), so cutting them out would most likely benefit this person regardless of the cause of their symptoms. At least this is the way i understood it
It’s so brave for you to talk openly about your stomach issues. I’m glad you found your cause. One important piece is for people who unknowingly make people feel uncomfortable for not accepting food or desserts in social settings. For instance a birthday cake or treat at work. Or all going out to a restaurant with one type of food. It is often seen as rude or insulting to decline so most people just eat it under social pressure and deal with the consequences privately. We should normalize helping yourself to food or making it okay to decline without an expectation of a medical explanation.
Thank you for saying this!! I’m so tired of having to give a TED talk on my food intolerance when in social settings. People take it incredibly personally when I decline joining them for a meal out. I can’t eat essentially anything from most restaurants. Just “not going with” is so much easier for me, and if we normalized the idea that people have these intolerances, maybe I wouldn’t have to launch into the science lesson just to keep friends 😅
@@dovebair Suggest a 'buffet restaurant' where at least you can serve and choose for yourself ! Then if you decline their choice you will have a valid reason ! Or are buffets that bad too?
@@linmal2242 I have to ask “what’s the entire ingredient list” for every dish in the buffet! Even when I explain what nightshades are to staff, they often can’t hold the whole, long, new list in their head at a time and miss things. I always feel lucky when I can speak directly to a chef / line cook because they have a better relationship with the food :)
I was using erythritol, and zyletol almost exclusively for three or four years. I couldn't figure out why I was so sick. I had so many tests done. Even an upper and lower GI. With not concrete answers. I did lose weight, and that was my main goal at the time. We went on a vacation, and I didn't take my sweetener. By the time we got back home I didn't have any of the symptoms....I felt betrayed by the sweet concoction I had been relying on to take off the weight that had haunted me for years. I got a little bitter, and gave up. I gained all my weight back in a matter of a couple years. I have come to terms with my self destruction, and have a plan to move forward on my weight loss journey without sugar alcohols. There are no shortcuts. Self-discipline is really the only answer. Thank you for your video. Have a blessed day.
My experience is very similar. I feel your disappointment and frustration. I'm right there with you. No shortcuts, which is hard, but at the same time, good to know answers. Good luck to you!
What an informative video, thank you for taking the time to make and share it. The answer, of course, is to only eat food in its original form--no processed foods at all. I have been on a food journey the last several years with emphasis on low-carb, whole foods. I started with general low carb by just eliminating all grains. This was the hardest part for me, so I took my time. After adjustment I found my body reacted so positively that I then moved into Paleo/Keto to varying degrees of strictness, then to full carnivore for a while and have now settled comfortably into ketovore. At first, I wondered what I would eat without pastas, breads, packaged and convenience foods but, several years on now, I find it so very simple. Last night I ate a steak that I grilled myself, seasoned with only salt and topped with butter. The day before a leafy salad with tomatoes and bacon (additive & sugar free) dressed with homemade vinaigrette. Real food. Really satisfying. No gastric upset. And before anyone asks, I am as regular as the sunrise--you'd be surprised how well the human bowel works when it's not overstuffed with indigestible fiber.
Ah, yes, I didn't realize I had an issue until a UA-camr I watch said that sugar alcohols hurt some people's stomachs, and that's when I realized the food I ate that had sugar alcohol instead of sugar gave me gas. Sugar makes me tired, so I always check for the amount when I buy something new, and if it's like "Keto-friendly" it often has sugar alcohol
I have a similar issue, and I was misdiagnosed for 15 years. The thing I figured out is that I was non celiac gluten intolerance. Even though I never showed up on the blood tests as celiac. It has gotten much worse as I’ve gotten older and the symptoms have changed with it. Gut issues and joint issues now. I now just eat a diet of natural 1 ingredient foods like meat and veg, or rice and meat and I’m fine.
I love this woman and only "discovered" her a few days ago. What a gem! Science. Facts. Humor. Thank you for what you do. Love you Sabine! May you soon acquire another 9 million subscribers.
sabine, thank you from the very very bottom of my heart. im only 19, about to turn 20, and ive been having life ruining gut problems for the past year since going on antibiotics and now that im off my stomach still is fighting my diet, this information is crucial. youre doing great work for many.
I’m sure you’re already taking/eating probiotics, but just in case case you’re not, do :) My struggle after antibiotics for years was overgrowth of yeast or bad bacteria in my gut. Eating fiber rich foods and taking probiotics helped.
I needed to lose weight and I started Nutrisystems. The first two months were a horror, as described. I called them and they told me to use the “sugar alcohol” filter in ordering my food. Problem solved, immediately.
Do a prolonged water fast (4-7 days or so) after eating a bunch of bowel stimulating fruit on the first day to clease your colon (green apples work for me, figs have a fame for that as well) and then start reinintroducing food by eating fruit and fermented classics like pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi. After a month or so you can research some *pre*biotic supplement (not *pro*biotic). Prebiotics are fibers that beneficial gut bacteria eat to multiply while probiotics are the bacteria themselves. Look up the first one and take a good quality supplement a month after your fast
For me crucifer vegetables are really my bane. If I eat just a tiny bit of broccoli or whatever I can have incredible stomach cramps for hours. You should definitely try to keep a food diary and try find out what causes your problems. Hopefully there are some foods that you can tolerate well...
Simplify your diet down to non processed vegetables and meat, organic if possible. Take probiotics, then reintroduce foods one by one. You want to isolate what food is causing your inflammation. Once isolated, you know what to avoid. Eating natural, non processed is rhetorical way to go.
Thank you for posting this! Hard to diagnose health issues are so bad, and being open with each other is the only thing that helps many people. A huge, undocumented number.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful videos! Advice: I've never suffered from any digestive problems (age 81) - almost no processed foods, few biscuits, chocolate only at Christmas (wow, what a treat!), vegetarian with dairy products, home-grown garden produce, home-made organic wholemeal sourdough bread (for the last 50 years). Never a headache, never constipated, never 'flu (I mean never!) My wife the same. Good luck with your intestines Sabine!
Missing something like this is more natural than not missing it. Usually it takes a "break through" moment like the one you had with those cookies to see it.
Thank you Sabine! Last February I was diagnosed pre-diabetic, which wasn't surprising. More than 100 lbs overweight, Sugar and carb addict, etc. My doctor prescribed Metformin and other stuff. I decided not to do that. I completely cut out sugar and alcohol and went back to the 1960 Weight Watchers program with very low carb (not pure keto) and intermittent fasting. I have lost 40 lbs so far and still on my way. Last month, I decided to try to find sugar free hard candies. I bought several kinds and then discovered that most of them have maltodextrin, which Dr. Berg shows is worse than sugar for insulin resistance. I knew that they had other sugar alcohols that were kind of ok. I threw most of them away. But there is one kind - Werther's sugar free that does not have maltodextrin, but does have other sugar alcohols. Well, I love them. I don't eat them all day long, but usually a few in the evening. I started noticing a dramatic increase in farting! Luckily, I live alone, so it doesn't matter and it seems to be in the evening. No cramps, though, and I used to have huge abdominal pain at night from time to time, which I think had more to do with bread products, which I don't eat at all now. Anyway, I was suspecting the candies causing the gas. Right now, it is worth it to maintain my eating program, but if I had pain with it, I would stop them altogether. I use primarily monkfruit drops in my coffee and tea and occassionally stevia, but I don't like that much because of the aftertaste. Thank you again for this important information. Best wishes!
If the info is from Dr Eric Berg, it is usually not valuable at all, well, it may be valuable to Berg's wallet. He is a scam artist and snake oil salesman (and a Scientologist, by the way, which fits perfectly). Be cautious!
Quite a discovery. After six months of feeling bad and very low energy, ups and downs, I minimized carbs and sugars and improved a lot. Like you, no intolerance markers in blood. In my case the monster triggers 6-8 hours after intake, but lasts 36 hours. I am a Chem. Eng., angry by now with the food industry that is killing us and with the medical science/practice that is not moving fast enough in diagnostics neither fighting the food industry to end all this poisoning. Thank you Sabine, you were quite wise and generous in spreading this out.
It can still be grains, even without gluten. I found out by accidentally not eating any bread for 3 days. I ate rice instead. Yes, it is hard to figure out by ourselves. We keep getting more of these the more additives we eat. Each of them could be the next worst thing. Try 7 day diets with each one target food or ingredient. Fructose, grains, meat (yes, that exists), milk products ... All at once is impossible.
A big part of the problem is capitalism and an industry that wants you to buy, buy, buy! If we just ate regular plant/fruit derived sugars AND lived without sugars/high calories them as necessary then it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But it would probably hurt sales.
I cut out everything except meat. If the ingredients has more than meat, salt, and water, then it's a no go. Shockingly enough, it actually worked. I can walk between rooms without becoming exhausted now, and had my first regular bowel movement in almost 10 years. Now comes the fun part of adding stuff back in, and waiting to see what ends up obliterating me back to a life of terminal porcelain throne squatting. I planned on going pure meat for a month, and then adding in one new ingredient every week, and sitting on it for a week to see how I handle it. I 'm going to try adding rice as my first new addition on the first of February. Wish me luck. @@alis49281
Actually "science" is trying to make a head of these issues, but they are v.complex, there is a sea of legal problems, studies take time, new stuff is introduced v.fast ...to quote a good speaker, dr. Chris van Tulleken, we are "part of an experiment that you din't volunteer for" , here's a link with a lecture about ultra-processed foods that are so common today - ua-cam.com/video/5QOTBreQaIk/v-deo.htmlsi=Bwqv2dUB-GwmOvWp
I'm glad that you noted that the inability to digest sugar alcohols is a big selling point for diabetics and people wishing to limit their insulin response to eating (e.g. low carb dieters). However these are usually clearly marked and sold as such. I am surprised that these are getting put into regular food, and being hidden in the fine print. Hopefully the EU or the FDA make it such that any product containing sugar alcohols above a certain amount are marked on the front with the type and amount.
As a diabetic I was always told when calculating carbs subtract out Sugar Alcohols. Now I know why and why they are called Sugar Alcohol. I am pretty sure that in the US that it is required to be listed as a sub total under Carbohydrates.
I don't think it's required, but companies voluntarily do it because they are allowed to subtract sugar alcohols (and dietary fiber) from the carb total and report that as "Net Carbs"
Sugar alcohols are not low carb. They are useless for weightloss. Go look at the nutrition facts of regular hershey's vs "sugar free". The carbs are the same. The sugar free is not lower carb. I learned the sugar free existed a few days ago when some relatives brought over some halloween candy. It seemed great until I looked at the nutrition label. This "sugar free" is a scam. It replaced sugar with another carb. If you are going to eat carbs, you may as well just eat the regular version and enjoy it more.
I'm an American. Don't count on the FDA. They're severely understaffed and with the latest incarnation of "justice" here (aka Supreme Court) the FDA, along with pretty much any other regulatory agency, will likely be judged "unconstitutional", leaving corporations the ability to make much more money.
your brilliant scientific and logical mind not only solves your health problem to which no doctor can give a viable advice, but also encourages us all to think like you to face the seemingly unsolvable daily problems 👍👍👍
Great episode! As a diabetic I tried a few of these and found the digestive troubles not worth it. However, I had a serious problem with milk proteins that was nearly unnoticeable for most of my life which turned acute after a diet that used mozzarella cheese sticks as a snack. Took a year to figure out the cause though having a stomach covered with open sores kept the docs from dismissing it. Once cut out everything healed pretty quickly. A round of bone marrow destroying chemo reset my immune system and my allergy and reaction disappeared. Very important that you shared this. Glad you were clever enough to figure this out!❤
that is fascinating thanks so much for sharing! it seems there is a cure of sorts... though really nobody's body should be developing an allergy or any kind of reaction to something like cheese or any other food in the first place. as a biochemist i really want to know what starts it in the first place. as the expert in your own experience, do you have any thoughts you wouldn't mind sharing?
Honestly, any Red Bull (any energy drink that's similar) wrecks havoc on my GI system, with the sole difference that sugar one has the benefit of ruining my teeth as a bonus. First of all, if you have to drink it, enjoy it at room temp, don't chug it down and don't drink on an empty stomach. Secondly, assuming you're after the effects of caffeine... Yes, caffeine also tends to make my GI issues worse, but you're still much better off drinking coffee. Hell, even Coca Cola is better than Red Bull. At least that's my experience.
It is even more frustrating as different sugar alcohols can produce different results. Erythritol gives me horrendous stinky gas 3-6 hours after consumption while Sorbitol doesn't appear to do anything. Thank you for speaking out on these sketchy 'sweeteners'.
Excellent video! Sugar alcohols actually work as a laxative. In the US, they used to put warnings on the label to indicate that overconsumption of a product with sugar alcohol will cause a laxative effect (a nicer way of saying “diarrhea”). I’ve noticed now that manufacturers of sugar-free treats aren’t using sugar alcohols as much anymore, and they’re replacing it with allulose, monk fruit, stevia, and inulin.
Xylitol(good for teeth), Mannitol(sugar shift probiotic and helps with PKD), Glyvia(check it out) are better Allulose and Monk fruit have good taste as opposed to the ones mentioned(whether or not they have the an "after-feel" as opposed to that bittersweet aftertaste is a matter of perspective)
For me I had many of the same symptoms, and it took me years to figure out. But in my case it was an intolerance to garlic and onions so there are other intolerances for people to discover and not just sugar alcohols. It is amazing how many things have garlic or onion as an ingredient.
ironically onions and garlic taste kinda good because they are so rich in natural pesticides and taste repellents that they taste kinda spicy and raw. who knew. same with chilli
@@eldictator1you can't make this claim. we do not know which bacteria is good or bad or any one good affects your gut bacteria. it's a result of mood of tiny changes in your environment
This is the thing I have sometimes thought about FODMAP. It’s so hard to follow, and you won’t know what actually made the difference unless you gradually add in each thing. It takes a lot of discipline and effort and as a result can be quite expensive. Removing just one thing at a time might be easier.
Did you see how she deftly slid in the f-word into her description of the sugar alcohols? I loved it. Such a prolific mind. I hope she is over her sugar problems, now that she has it all figured...so she can further enlighten us ignorami on the quantum stuff. I love her videos.
Nothing against this video. I see hard science and that's what Sabine shines at. I don't happen to have those symptoms (or not yet), but thanks for the quality video.
I've been diagnosed with sorbitol intolerance over 10 years ago and never really succeeded in cutting it out but kinda just learned to live with it. Now I know why, because it's likely other sugar alcohols as well AND they don't always have to be declared as ingredients and they're virtually everywhere, including actual fruit and vegetables. What did help me a lot in the end is massively cutting down on sweets in general and supplementing a good chunk of fiber. What helped additionally (in an unrelated effort to not take on ever more weight) was shifting my diet towards protein as main energy source as opposed to carbs... when you stuff yourself with salads, diary, and lean, mostly white meats, there's very little room left for eating any sweet stuff to begin with :D
What fiber? I have been using Sunfiber (partially hydrolyzed guar gum). Unlike psyllium husk, it does not gel up when mixed with a liquid. You can mix it into anything you put into a water bottle and drink it all day, it won't turn solid on you. If you look up scientific papers you can find actual testing to show it helps with IBS. "Partially hydrolyzed guar gum in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome"
January is/was Carnivore month. Would be a great time to try an elimination diet and slowly reintroduce veggies/fruits in February. May help to focus in on what triggers you.
Try NOW brand liquid stevia extract for sweetening. It has zero calories and is made from stevia leaves. You use only a few drops for coffee or tea or cocoa. I tried making it from fresh stevia leaves and Everclear 190 proof ethyl alcohol, but the NOW brand is much better.
Thank you! My daughter has been so sick and when I saw this the light went on. I’ve sent this to her and I think this will be one of the few things she hasn’t checked. Thank you so much!
The importance of the gut microbiome can’t be overstated, yet it’s still a medical afterthought. For a few years, I suffered in the 60 minutes post-meals, particularly when dining out. Doctor said it could be IBS or hilariously-named “Dumping Syndrome.” This all started after a two-round antibiotic treatment. In the end, I started taking a simple probiotic on recommendation from a coworker, and it resolved within 2 weeks. Doesn’t work for everybody, though. Lesson? Microbiome matters.
@@hieronymusbutts7349 So long as you're talking about traditional probiotic foods (yogurt, sour kraut, miso, kimchi, kombucha), yes I agree. But it's tricky with probiotic pills. We still don't really understand probiotics very well, and just as there have been people whose guts were severely damaged by antibiotics, there are people whose guts have been severely damanged by taking probiotics that turned out to be a very bad mix with their own personal gut flora. I'm not saying don't take probiotics, but it's also not as simple as just downing whatever random probiotic blend you can get your hands on. There are certain strains that are very well researched for their benefits to gut health (specific straings of L. Reuteri and B. Longum, for example, but you have to get the correct strain), and these are a good place to start--but warily.
Oh my gosh! I have celiac disease. I'm having a lot of digestive issues despite being gluten free. I have a new gastroenterologist who is listening to me and asking me to try simpler things first. I tried low fodmap diet. Its very hard. He said no artificial sweetners, but we didn't talk about suger alcohols. Next is a test for sibo. I'm going to be reading labels more carefully looking for sugar alcohols. Thank you! ❤❤
Adverse reactions to artificial sweeteners are much, much, much more rare than adverse reactions to sugar alcohols. So not sure why he started with the sweeteners.
@@4203105this is true of transient acute reactions, but I think the general issue with artificial sweeteners is that chronic consumption can further exacerbate gut biome imbalance.
How do you know you have CD? I'm heterozygous at one gene location and I went GF, with considerable improvement, but as symptoms eventually return over and over, I have spent a few years cutting out more and more foods in an effort to remedy this. Currently looking at mast cell activation syndrome and oxalate intolerance (sigh)...
Being treated for SIBO made a huge difference in my symptoms (called IBS, but who knows? 🤔😉). Before treatment (an antibiotic 🫤), when I ate simple carbs, the palm of my left hand would get tiny red bumps that eventually broke into a scaly surface, then disappear, no pain, no itch, just weird, and definitely related to having SIBO.
I'm so glad i came across this video! I recently started low FODMAP and it's helped with my digestive issues a lot. I had no idea what was causing it before. Great to hear one of my favorite youtubers can relate!
I find it fascinating that not everybody knows this about sugar alcohols! But then I remember that not everybody had an eating disorder and tried to replace all sugar in their diet and noticed the impact on the GI tract, so it makes sense.
The fake sugarfree candy tastes so good too, it's a cruel trap for a food addict like me. Like the time i almost died of alcohol poisoning because the jello shots were so cute and tasty 😂💀
Great video. After suffering from debilitating IBS (called spastic colon when i was young) for 45 years, i self-diagnosed at the age of 60. I had had endless tests and doctor visits, but they found nothing, despite the fact that i had constant gas pain and embarrassing abdominal noises. It turns out, I'm fructose and lactose intolerant, and can't digest polyols or whole grains. How did i find all this out? One day at work i ate an apple and some watermelon, both very high in fructose. My abdomen swelled so badly with gas, i was almost in tears. Then i started googling. Within an hour i figured it out. I found fodmap information and a list of low fodmap foods and an eating plan. I cut out all fake sugars, dairy and whole grains, and voila, i had a whole new life. I now make most of my food from scratch, and never eat anything sweet that has any sweetener but sugar. Truly life-changing.
Thank you Sabine. My wife and I constantly try to avoid processed foods, but it is becoming so difficult. Customers want cheap food products and supermarkets want a long shelf life. Take a look at margarine if you really want to scare yourself.
Great video! I'm sorry for your frustrating and painful journey before you finally found out the cause of your discomfort. I've gone through the same thing: no gluten, no sugar alcohols, no grains, no sugars, etc. Now I make everything we eat myself. If it doesn't come from an animal, the sea or is grown in the ground or found on a tree we don't it eat. It helps but it is more time consuming. Thank you for posting your experience. Take care.
I'm one. I've got it. I didn't know it was sugar alcohols, but I know I can't deal with sweeteners like sorbitol, xylitol or anything similarly spelled. I also know I can't take much fruit, but never knew the connection! This will make it easier to avoid stuff and further isolate some more of the food that I can't take. THANKS! ❤
Great video! And if you are trying to control your blood sugar, you should note that some of these sugar alcohols like maltitol have a significant number on the glycemic index and will cause an insulin response. So just because it is not a carb does not mean it will not cause an insulin spike.
Yes! A lot of people don't know this and are eating these "sugar free/ less sugar" making their diabetes or insulin resistance worse. People just need to research all these trends before jumping on them.
Yes, great point! One product that gets to me is Smartsweets. They’re marketed as better for you than sugar but the IMOs in their products will spike your blood sugar (and insulin) like crazy!
I suffered from chronic stomach issues until I cut out gluten. I was lucky that someone randomly suggested cutting out gluten and it worked. Within days I was back to normal. I'm glad you found out how to get your health back.
Most of my symptoms went away once i cut out dairy and reduced capsaicin, but I still have the unexplained flare ups now and again. I think it is worth repeating that the FODMAP diet is not meant to be a long-term lifestyle, but a short term scientific experiment to try to isolate your intolerance, so you can more effectively build a reasonable diet around that info.
cutting out seed oils, sugar, antinutrients from plants like lectins, oxalates, phytates, etc. cut out most grains. cut out processed foods in general, and mostly eat animal products is what worked for me. raw aged cheese is good.
That is how it is meant to work, yes. But my experience, and that of most of the people with major gut issues I've encountered online, is that we can't tolerate any of the fodmaps once we cut them out; the gut won't heal itself just from removing fodmaps, so you're stuck not eating fodmaps for life unless you can figure out and heal the causes of your gut dysbiosis. The only people I've really seen able to reintroduce FODMAPs have been people that were diagnosed with SIBO and then resolved the SIBO, but SIBO is notoriously difficult to resolve. This is all what I'm actively doing right now, but it's basically a long, long (and expensive) process of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, because so little is known still about gut health, and what seems like a miracle cure for one person, will make the next person even worse. I wish I had known all of this previously, and had tried addressing my gut health in other ways without eliminating FODMAPs from my diet, because my symptoms were more tolerable before I removed the FODMAPs, removing them has felt like a trap!
I really like it when people like you provide this info on a really public page. I've seen a lot of people with food intolerance/"autoimmune" issues say things were cured by a carnivore diet, I wonder if they had sugar alcohol issues as well since they cut out almost everything until they were only left with unprocessed meats.
You cannot cure autoimmune issues. After talking to lots of people with bowel issues you realise that a lot of the people advocating for diets are basing it all off of personal experiences that most of the time just happen to be coincidences, you can find people advocating for pretty much every kind of diet for the same issues so you really can’t trust any of it.
yep, tho the carnivores I know of who have adhered to it for years know very well it’s because they have intolerances. Most people I think would not WANT to only eat meat, but it’s probably preferred over chronic pain.
This video mirrors my experience as well. I have Cauda Equina Syndrome, so lots of nerve deficit and poor peristalsis in some parts of my intestine. As I aged between 60 and 65, the cyclical constipation and diarrhea became worse and worse. Cutting out High Fructose Corn Syrup helped, but the symptoms continued to get worse with age. Finally, cutting out apple juice and other sources of Sorbitol, made a vast improvement within a 2 week period. I very much appreciate the list of other similar ingredients in this video, and I will pay more attention to those. Thank You Sabine.
If avoiding corn syrup and sorbitol has helped, you might get additional improvement from avoiding all corn-derived sugars which are mainly dextrose, dextrin, maltodextrin, corn starch. That solved much of my peristalsis problem, although I don't have your diagnosis.
great video and message! I recently came across an entire dedicated shelf of "sugar free candy" at my local grocery store including chews, hard candy and chocolates that were full of sugar alcohols. the pendulum is starting to swing against the addition of so much sugar in our foods, but the tradeoff is going to cause a different set health issues
Unfortunately they are substituting sugar for aspartame in a lot of products. Which is just as bad if not worse.
You'd know a thing or two eh?
Incoming chubbyemu video of someone going to the hospital for ODing on sugar alcohol 😅
@cubbyemu @sabine Great to see two of my two favorite health/science vloggers interacting!
This sounds familiar. I ran into a similar issue with the protein in oats. Gluten is fine for me, but anything with oats causes me the same kind of problems common with gluten allergies. Fortunately I found a study in Australia that discovered the same thing a couple of years before I starting having problems again and went the whole food diary route. It caused me a bunch of back problems for a couple decades before I found out what it was (docs said they thought they saw some spinal stenosis in an X-ray of my tailbone, but it didn't seem like it should be causing me that much problem), and cutting it out helped me immensely. No very low back pain anymore, and no "intestinal" problems.
Medical doctor here. Thanks for the informative video - I had never heard of this diagnosis prior to watching your video. I'm off to studying the heck out of it right now.
Keep up the good work.
*deeply bows*
I’m extremely sensitive to sugar alcohols. Even a single stick of gum will give me cramps and bloat for a few days.
There is nothing to "study" but to become aware of what you are, namely a predator. People who think they have to "study" have forgotten their forefathers from a hundred thousand years ago and think they can eat anything but mother nature cannot be deceived and punishes you for despising her. Connect with nature and the problem is solved because there are no "diseases" except sitting in the dark cave all day looking at two dimensional images to find out what you are looking at, but you see absolutely nothing on a two dimensional one computer screen...
Gummy candy and also gummy vitamins are made from sugar alcohols. So I can't take gummy vitamins due to my own bowel difficulties with sugar alcohols. If one of your patients tells you they are suddenly experiencing loose stools, ask them if they are taking gummy vitamins.
It’s common with xilitol candies and sweets. Pregunté por esto en clases de nutrición y bioquímica y averigüé que se produce porque arrastran agua y eso provoca diarrea. Supuestamente son seguros en pequeña cantidad, pero es variable según sensibilidad del paciente.
“This is why I couldn’t figure out the problem, it’s because you need a chemistry degree to figure out what’s in your food” that line hit hard.
It’s so true. I really enjoyed this because I have been going through the same thing
A real scientist at work: trial and error but sincere.
For the first time in my life, my chemistry degree doesn't feel like a complete waste.
@@dinitroacetylen Why has it been feeling like a complete waste? Genuine question
While I don't think I suffer from any severe food intolerances, this is still the reason why I've removed heavily processed food almost entirely from my diet.
@@kennethng9653 It's a bad time to be a scientist. Grant-based financing means all that scientists do is making promises like politicians, then frantically cobbling together experiments, then trying to squeeze any at least vaguely meaningful nonsense out of them and take it past peer reviewers (who are themselves in no better situation). Good luck if you try to base your own research on literature that is published in this mode. In fact, I am quite certain that science as such doesn't exist anymore. Just a withered husk of its glorious former self, that nobody has the courage to bury... Because even when everyone barely understands how science is supposed to work, they still have this vague idea that science is supposed to be neat stuff, and things drag on as they do. My life certainly got all around happier when I abandoned this rat race under the guise of science.
As an airline pilot, I suffered from this mystery while eating on the road for 30 years. Eat at hotel... go for a walk... run back within 30 minutes. I retired. Now, since making all my food at home, I've never had this problem reoccur. Thank you for solving this.
Sabine dropping the f-bomb! This makes it very clear how frustrating and impactful this situation was. Very glad you’ve managed to identify the problem. The modern “food” industry has been a blessing and a curse - enough food to feed the planet and can stay edible for long periods, but the subtle effects on different individuals or even the possible long-term consequences for an entire population are somewhat unclear in many instances.
You forgot to mention the "whole foods" end of the spectrum, adding every dodgy and untested plant product they can acquire from anywhere, because it tickled the measurement equipment in the right way, and it's floor sweepings cheap. Because the impoverished locals selling it know it's poisonous.
You say a blessing and a curse. I say a curse - period. On every measure that counts, humans are getting less, not more, healthy. I saw this happen with my own eyes in South Africa. Before Apartheid fell, the country produced almost all of its food - a natural by-product of sanctions and a very effective international boycott that was obviously needed. When 1994 came around, 'free trade' was promoted by the new government, which essentially meant the mass importation of cheap processed food from other countries, principally the US. This turned the fittest and healthiest population in Africa into the fattest and most obese in the space of a single generation.
Today, the influence of such 'food' can be seen everywhere in South Africa. Lots of US companies have invested in SA agriculture and factory plants that use the same ingredients, preparation methods, and preservatives that you find in the US. They also use some things, like hydrogenated fats, that are no longer legal in the US but still able to be used in foods in SA. Travel to the country and you will know precisely what I mean the minute you step off a plane: pot-bellied men and women wheezing their way around the place looking half dead. 'Snacks' loaded with so much sugar and preservatives they never go off. Morbidly obese children. These are products of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The diseases they create are products of big agriculture and industrialised farming. The companies that produce this 'food' need to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Ha! I missed that! But glad she did because yes, it most definitely is frustrating af dealing with issues like this with NO help, even when you pay through the nose for it (US-ian here *sigh).
@@Liberal.Linda. yes, I deal with some of the same symptoms as Sabine so this is of great interest to me, although my diet is relatively good this just goes to show that good, healthy and traditional foods are likely the best fuel for our bodies, and that I should reduce my intake of some of my cheat foods even more.
@@brianwelch1579 yes, the natural / whole foods industry is also profit driven and preys on people who believe that everything natural is healthy. The most egregious one I’ve heard is a “black earth” scam by unfortunately my fellow Canadians which was selling supposedly very good dirt for people to bathe in, and some people would actually consume it. Turns out it’s contaminated with lead and arsenic as it was being dug up from near a dump. Thankfully they were stopped by the authorities but undoubtedly the grifters behind it will come up with a new angle.
“We don’t know what you have but it’s the only thing left on the list- please go away” is so, so common and I wish our medical system was set up to handle this better.
The most prestigious job in medicine should be one that doesn’t exist- diagnosis of complex cases.
There are probably millions of people needlessly suffering because they can’t get to the right specialist through primary care.
This is why I have basically given up on doctors.
The problem is that we aren't that far in medicine yet. People in a 100 years will look at our understanding of body functions as we look at those of 100years ago. We haven't reached some magical endpoint where research was able to find and communicate everything yet. So yes, we'll suffer and die from stupid stuff, just like people 100 years ago died from now preventable diseases.
False. Internal medicine is dedicated to the diagnosis of uncommon conditions. Anybody suffering from an undiagnosed ailment ought to consult one by referral. It helped me greatly after having hit the brick wall of medical incompetence among family doctors.
That would be "House" from the TV show. He is wrong more often than right but he does, usually, get the right diagnosis near the end, before the patient dies, usually.
Yes and we actually don't have a way to invoke full testing of things they don't standard test for as well. Plus of course at this point mental health folk should come in because it's not always in your head but sometime it really is.
In my case i'm very resistant to stimulants need more stimulant for my ADHD than I can get legally. I'm so take me into a hospital hook me up to monitors and give me stimulant though an IV up to the point it starts being bad for me and then set my maximum dose that way.
I always remembered on the show, "House" where a guy came in complaining of diarrhea and House saw that he was chewing gum and asked him if gum chewing was a habit for him. The guy said yes, so House told him to stop it. Gum usually has Sorbitol in it which can cause diarrhea. Told him to also avoid sugar alcohols. I've tried to avoid it ever since then, but yeah, it's everywhere.
House told a guy with IBS to smoke one cigarette a day. 😮😮😮
Best tv show ever
@@canadiangemstones7636that was ulcerative colitis, not IBS
Yes, it's insane. Can hardly find any foods without that crap.
He prescribed the guy cigarettes
Stopping by to say thank you. I've had stomach issues my whole life. Could never figure out what was wrong. After watching this video I suspected this was the missing piece. I took a sensitivity test and it confirmed I have a severe sorbitol sensitivity. Your video helped me more than you know. The mental torment of not knowing what is wrong even after all the tests and Doctor visits. This one video saved me! A million times, thank you.
I knew about sorbitol but this opened my mind completely to the whole array of sorbitol-like compounds in food and is most definitely a factor in my life long stomach pain
How do you do a sensitivity test?
@@BAMomggurl I used "check my body health"
@@LWNmusicI had a look at "check my body health", that's going to be a hard pass for me. The pretend to be able to know what you ll struggle to digest based off bio-resonnating a strand of hair. Their FAQ is filled with justification why two tests may be different, or why your know allergies won't be showing on their test. Smells like snake oil peddlers
@@MBobLamy I'm usually skeptical of these things too. All I can speak of is from my personal journey. Not only did it show my sorbitol sensitivity it listed other foods and additives I've avoided over the years because I've had issues with GI issues. I'm not saying it's perfect but I can validate it's accuracy from person experience from elimination diets
Said a gastroenterologist when I asked him about my chronic diarrhea: “a lot of things can cause diarrhea”. I guess that was his IBS moment
LMAO! That's a good one. Your on point for most doctors.
IBS is definitely a 'we don't know' diagnosis. The gastroenterology field is really behind the times.
I was actually semi-relieved when I was diagnosed with Crohn's, because at least it's something treatable and the progression is observable, unlike IBS.
I mean, Crohn's (IBD) is probably a "more severe" disease than IBS because it's actually causing inflammation and cancer risks and such, but it's very nice to have the doctors actually know what they're doing. It took a few tries over about a year, but eventually we found a medicine that got rid of all the inflammation, and my symptoms decreased significantly. My impression is that people with IBS usually can't hope for a medicine to come and fix all their problems like that.
lol behind
There are many IDK diagnoses in medicine, all fields, you just don't know about them.
Also, your trust in modern medicine is astounding. We're barely scraping the surface at this point. It will take a thousand years probably.
@@lacedhexes Your distrust in human progress is astounding. I give it 50 years max
@@n0ame1u1 Yeah, I totally get that. I went a year when I was 14 without any relief for my symptoms, because all the blood tests were normal, but it felt like I was slowly dying. Then all of a sudden, everything went south fast, within a few weeks. Turns out I had type 1 diabetes and my body was using all of its compensatory mechanisms to keep my body chemistry in order as long as it could, until it failed and I was literally dying.
I was sort of relieved to be diagnosed, even though it’s a serious and chronic illness, because then I knew there was an actual treatment and that I wasn’t suffering from some serious, but unknown, illness.
"if it helps even one single person" is a mindset to have!
What about one married person ??... 😮😂
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 🤣
That's how to look at it, especially on UA-cam.
As long as its not mandatory!
@floridaman5125that helps a minimum of three people
Mannitol & Sorbitol absolutely wreck me. Not just the bloating, but also the “impending sense of doom” anxiety they trigger.
Same - just in general all kind of superficial 'sugar' 🥴
Thank u for mentioning this! 😊
I had surgery last year, and they had me on a special diet for 2 weeks before & after. It basically was protein shakes and sugar-free stuff. So for a month, i was miserable with horrible intestinal issues. I was extremely weak and thought this was the way life was going to be from now on... thankfully a Physician Assistant i talked to mentioned "sugar alcohols" and adjusted what i could eat. By the next day I was already improving and continued to feel WAY better over the next few days.... what a difference!! If i hadn't talked to that one person, I'd probably still be suffering. .... Thank you for your video and helping to spread awareness 😃❤️🖖
Thanks for sharing.
@invisibleacropolis8195wat
Praise God God is good
It's wrong that this is a part of hospital nutrition. Processed drinks and puddings that tick off the boxes for "nutritional requirements" but are filled with sugar alcohols and thickeners that ruin our gut.
They brainwashed everyone with these protein shakes. They are waste products.
I'm 72, a chemist, and I am still learning what foods, chemicals, affect me negatively. One of my hobbies is cooking. Since retiring, I make almost everything I eat from basic ingredients. I was thinking of trying sugar alcohols, but Sabine, you convinced me I don't have to learn that lesson the hard way. Thank you
well you should try.
You most probably wont have any problem with it. And if you have, you can just throw the idea away then.
This! Eating and cooking with basic ingredients makes such trouble go away. I avoid processed food like a plague. As a bonus, basic food is much cheaper.
??? Just try it so you KNOW whether it affects you?
@@jojojo9240 "Just try" isn't as easy as it sounds. People in the modern world eat lot of different things during the day and one would have to eat that one test food for 2 or 3 days before one can safely confirm it's a problem. It can be done, but requires a lot of discipline.
Better is to simply drop entire classes of food. Like all the factory processed ones. The longer the list of ingredients, the worse.
Its a moving target; we change. Coffee is tough on me, I just have to say no after two cups. Milk is slightly more dangerous. Potatoes are just mildly irritating. I hope I have the opportunity to add to the list.
My son has been to so many Dr's and we don't have an answer yet.My older son found your video for his younger brother.This illness has ruled our family's lives for the last 8 years.I am so grateful for your time you put in to creating this video .Thank you
My daughter also has suffered with the same issues since birth. Took 25 years to find out it has all been caused by damage at birth to her vagus nerve (in her neck). Go see a chiropractor who works with children.
@@tjkasgl You know, my son was a C-section birth.His umbilical cord was entangle around his neck.We will look into this.Thank you
@@PaulaWhetzel My daughter's umbilical cord was tightly wrapped 3 times and her neck. We both barely survived her birth. At a week old she started going lethargic and turning blue. After hospital stays and multiple tests doctors just shrugged and said she had reflux and would outgrow it. She never did, it only got worse. Every test don't on her came back nothing was wrong. When she went to college doctors told her since all testing came back negative it was psychosomatic and put her on antidepressants. Those increased her issues to the point of breaking her mentally.
A RN friend told me about vagal nerve damage. Having that stimulated with micro current was the first time my daughter had relief from her life long abdominal pain and nausea.
Carnivore is the answer. My wife had terrible bowel issues post gallbladder removal. I got her into this diet due to her having non alcoholic fatty liver disease. She is now completely regular and has ZERO intestinal issues. We don't even pass gas anymore.
We have been considering this diet for him.ty
Thank you for this video! IBS truly feels like: "Yeah, we don't know, good luck." I did a full FODMAP diet with elimination and re-adding certain groups. When it was time to test out sorbitol, I tested 5 blackberries and I was in constant pain and cramps and bloating. "You need a chemistry degree to figure out what's in your food" is so relatable and made me so angry, because it shouldn't be this hard. At all.
I had been taking Rennie's against gastric acid, which also contained sorbitol for some ungodly reason. The companies making these products HAVE to start caring about this, because there's no other way out of this despicable situation.
Johann, did you check by chance how you react to erythritol? Really interesting to know about your experience.
if the tablet would really help the pharma would lose a customer...
Those companies will never care because they have an interest in keeping your issues going. They need to help you just enough so that you appreciate their product, but they definitely would NOT want to cure you. It's an ethical question that imho cannot be solved in the current economic system. There should be a higher incentive to curing people than to keeping them as paying customers.
God, you’re so gullible and ignorant.
FRACKING THANK YOU. FINALLY, IT ALL MAKES SENSE.
you just described my exact symptoms AND the same kind of nightmare I've been through trying to get it diagnosed AND how I feel about it all perfectly in the first 2 minutes of the video. You're literally my hero right now.
Maybe you should make sure it it is applicable to you first?
*Wow* I had narrowed my problems to a couple of chemicals several years ago in the foods, But this Video ties it together. thank you.
also fibre. fibre is the same and found in the all plants. some more than others.
Lol frack
Just say the real word
@@Mallchad fibre is very useful for your digestion system. just not too much
I have had stomach issues for many years. This video has given me a new vector of attack for my problems. Please don't hesitate to put out a video that might help someone! I am glad to have watched because it gives me new information about what might be causing my problems!
Spot on about the chem degree to understand your food ingredients. I have always hated that.
Me too! We have a lot of research to do
Mine just started at age 50. I've had issues a few months. I may try this. I thought I was getting better with probiotics, but then I had issues this morning. I was thinking it was yogurt causing me problems as that was something I was doing different the past couple of days. Time to read some labels. I'll have to get the magnifying glass as my eyes are getting a bit rough at age 50.
Same here. I have the exact same problems!
Also be aware that problems due to drinking cow's milk actually come in two forms. Everybody knows about lactose intolerance. But there is also a wholly separate, unrelated issue of insensitivity to proteins found in cow's milk. It took me a couple years to figure this out. No thanks to my doctors who seemed oblivious to it. Drinking any products with milk in it makes me horribly ill. That includes lactose-free milk.
@@JimmyMon666 I had horrible night cramps for years, no help from doctors, only coincidentally found it was reaction to rye flour.
Nice detective work Sabine. I'm a family doctor. The problems you describe are very common. Sadly the reason for such symptoms is often isn't picked up for many years, if at all, and the cause is misattributed to some else - like the irritable bowel. Usually a dietitian can narrow down the cause with an elimination diet, but that first requires recognizing that the problem could be diet related. Thank you for your video Sabine - it's a great reminder to me to be ever vigilant.
Well, polyol intolerance is a subset of IBS. All the FODMAP compounds are things that normally should be broken down or absorbed, but aren't, which causes the gut flora to about creating a new Zeppelin. Many Danish dieticians tell people to start with a FODMAP free diet, and then introduce the groups one at the time after they've become symptom free. Many with IBS only react to a subset, so living on an overly restrictive diet is a needless bother.
And in the meantime you are loaded down with drug after drug. The medication has only made things worse.
Please make sure you spread the word about Whole Food Plant Based Nutrition for optimal health! Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Brooke Goldner, Dr. Saray Stancic are good docs to look into- they have lots of vids, as well as sites, books. They are role models to me, as a med student :) God bless!
@@bryant475 most of the whole foods and nutrition industry is complete BS so you need to be very careful with it and make sure everything you recommend has been thoroughly checked out and studied.
Great comment doctor, I hope you stay vigilant when they try to force a medical experiment on the human civilization yet again. Our immune system depends on a healthy gut flora. Not on some new faulty experimental v.
Thank you for making this, I've removed these from my diet and my abdominal pain and constant diarrhoea from the last three years is gone.
What you've described is EXACTLY what my mother has dealt with and took her years to figure out what she can and cannot eat. Despite being a doctor, she had no clue how much distress food additives could cause people.
Older doctors took maybe part of a course in nutrition. Very bad training for that.
Olestra. Need I say more?
Oddly, despite a mildly quirky gut for some additives, I managed to tolerate that crap. Likely, because I don't do that much junk food to begin with.
Doctors don't really get nutrition training. They're kind of left with barebones guidelines made by non scientists and are demonstrably wrong. as it turns out
Doctors have no clue. I’ve been dealing with this kind of garbage for ten years and I’ve had one (1) doctor ever suggest to me something beyond dairy or fructose or gluten might be an issue. And that doctor wasn’t any of the gastroenterologists. I’m guessing they read something like this somewhere.
They are all useless, in my experience.
Thanks for this! I've been on a warpath against these additives when I discovered this problem over a decade ago myself (same way you did). Maltitol is the worst! Some tips and anecdotes that may help others:
1. Anything in the "sugar free" section in a supermarket, designed for diabetics, will have these additives. Stay away!
2. Become a reader of ingredients. I think I discovered this sooner than you as I grew up in a Kosher home, and learnt to read Ingredients from the age of ~7. However, this has nothing to do with Kosher laws - other than if you're Lactose Intolerant, in which case if you see a Kosher symbol (OU or K in the USA), as well as the word "PAREVE", that means that it is milk-free.
3. Beware all sugarless drinks! Especially Energy Drinks with "zero calories". They will kill your gut with these additives.
4. The caveat to that: Aspartame (diet Coke, etc) does NOT have this problem! And ignore all those claims that it gives Cancer (nonsense). The problem is that the anti-aspartame crowd are winning, and the big companies are now replacing Aspartame with Sucralose (horror!). So be VERY careful when drinking sugar-free drinks these days. I am unclear if the new "Zero Sugar" Coke variant has Sucralose - it depends on the country! They also add these to most "fruit" juices these days in order to cut "Sugar levels" due to regulatory purposes. Fighting Obesity is also causing us all gas/issues...
5. Doctors will IGNORE you if you tell them this! Gastroenterologists do NOT accept what Sabine is saying! I've discussed this with half a dozen stomach doctors over the years, and they've told me that I don't know what I'm talking about [For the record, I have a PhD].
6. My personal opinion is this may be related to other enzymatic imbalances, as well as microbiome issues. Once again, "Western Medicine" won't research this, as they don't "believe" it.
7. As Sabine said - this is a sensitive issue... but I'm old enough to remember people "passing gas" less frequently. People always farted, but in the USA, I think they do it more than when I was younger - probably due to these additives [Note: look up Ben Franklin on gas :) ]
8. I have allergies too - and many medications, including anti-allergy ones, add Lactose as a sweetener. Joy (Allegra does not, for reference)
9. Regarding the Nasal Spray she mentioned: Xylitol is the additive, but it's not for Sweetness, it's because it prevents bacteria from sticking to surfaces. So as long as it's in your nose, it can help prevent sinus infection due to bacterial build-up.
I also hope this Comment - which will probably be lost in the endless stream - will help at least one person!
Also watch out for cough drops/ lozenges/ candies/lollies. Especially bad. Also green apple varieties like Granny Smith. Organic apples seem less problematic.
Thanks for sharing. It's funny what you say about aspartame. I hadn't looked into this, but I have noticed that too. Contrary to what people have been telling me, aspartame is the one thing that doesn't seem to cause me problems.
I guess they're right in that I should just drink tea and water 😅but aspartame seems the lesser evil.
Is there a specific problem with raw Sucralose or just Splenda (which is mostly fillers)?
@@Hamstray The problem is the molecule itself: Sucralose and all those "-lose/tol"es (!) that have alcohol are not easily broken up by the enzymes in your body, so instead, the bacteria (primarily e. coli) break it up instead, and the process releases gas(es). This is also true of Complex Sugars - essentially, this is the reason that beans give you gas: Your body may not be producing enough/at all of the enzymes that can break these two-part molecules up. (I'm simplifying).
Another note: this is all an "unknown" in science - your gut is constantly changing, which is why you may have a "good" day. and a "bad" day after eating the same thing. Even Lactose Intolerant people (like me) have good and bad days.
As a (former) scientist, it drives me crazy that we know so little about this stuff...
Point is - stay away from even small amounts of Sucralose. Splenda is just a brand name.
And I'm unsure how bad "Stevia" is - just because it's "Natural" doesn't mean your specific body can handle it.
@@zeevabrams stevia extract itself is a glycoside. However, a large proportion of sweetener products advertised as stevia are bulked with other ingredients to mitigate aftertaste and improve ease of use, particularly in baking. Probably the most common additive is - you guessed it - a sugar alcohol (erythritol). Which is naturally occurring and fine for many people, but important to be aware of if you are looking for stevia as an alternative to other sugar alternatives. Once again, the lesson is to check those labels. 😅
And THIS is why I believe we need a "food and medicine" class in school.
I am German and have a job that requires an overview of food declaration laws.
There is a difference between sweeteners that have 200x the sweetness of sugar and "Zuckeraustauschstoffe", sugar exchange ingredients which are similarly sweet to sugar.
This is partly because you can use a sugar exchange substance just like you would use regular sugar, for example you wouldn't need to change your baking recipes much, whereas with a 200x sweetener, you'd only need 2-3 grams to achieve the same sweetness, which completely throws off the amounts of flour/eggs etc. you would need.
In a chemical sense, sugar alcohols are in fact sugars.
Usually, sugars (monosaccharides) are grouped into ketones and aldehydes. Imagine a chain of C atoms. A ketone has an oxygen (O) sticking out somewhere in the middle of the chain. An aldehyde has a similar oxygen, just sticking out at one of the ends of the chain.
If I take a sugar (doesn't matter if ketone/aldehyde sugar), and make a reaction called a "reduction", the oxygen that sticks out of the chain gets a hydrogen stuck to it, which turns it into an OH group. This group is called hydroxyl or alcohol group, and all alcohols have (at least) one of these.
In essence, you turned your ketonic/aldehydic sugar into a sugar alcohol.
This is where the name derives.
Since sugar alcohols aren't absorbed into the intestines as well as sugar, they help a great deal with calorie and/or insulin management.
However, the bacteria in your colon might have a party producing gas from them (as they would with sugar, but that got absorbed, remember?). In the end, it is not a question of "natural vs artificial", but instead weighing the (numerous) cons of sugar against the cons of sugar alcohols.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Or a class called "Food AS Medicine"
The trouble is we learned most of our misinformation from experts at school.
totally!
Just believe that the US food industry is trying to f*** us over for by putting addictive, no food sugar in everything!
Thank you for taking the time to explain! It's always interesting to hear a level-headed expert explain some of the nuance of their domain in a way that people outside their field can understand.
20 years ago. in my thirties, I discovered that onions and garlic were causing my painful gas, bloating, and IBS. Ever since, it has been very dificult trying to avoid foods cooked with onions and garlic.
Having to cut out onions and garlic? Is life even worth living at that point?
@@jimmydesouza4375 I have a friend that also can’t eat onion and garlic. I found it hard to manage but not only her but her whole family live without consuming them so it’s possible
Can you eat raw onions? Cooked are terrible for me but raw cause no problem at all
@megmodaff5989 Yes, if it's a raw freshly sliced onion, I can tolerate it. Sliced or whole, if an onion sat for a long period of time, cooked or uncooked, I would feel uncomfortable.
@jimmydesouza4375 Yah, most cooked recipes with brazed. sauted or fried onions or garlic make me feel uncomfortable . However. If a cook slices a freshly picked onion without cooking it, I can have onions on my hamburger. 🙂
omg, I think you just saved my son. These symtoms (including the negative colonoscopy) are EXACTLY what is going on with my kid. We'll give this a try ASAP.
If it doesn't work it could be other food intolerances, that you can try to figure out. For example: Tomatoes and peppers are in so many meals it was hard to figure out that I don't tolerate nightshade fruits...
Good luck either way.
When I was a young teen I had this favourite soda that I would drink everyday. It took a while to notice that I would be tired all the time, my muscles would be weak, and my mood would always be low. When the joint pains started my mom suggested I stop drinking the soda and a few days later I felt better. Turns out the soda had aspartame and sugar alcohols. Other sodas with regular sugar never made my joints hurt.
Takes me back to my days as a lab technician doing Salmonella Epidemiology. . . any unknown strain would be tested against those sugars. . . seeing how they grew on agar containing the various sugars. And yes, part of it was seeing how they produced gases.
This was in the 1960s
Still learning exactly those tests in the lab today (a lot of them on color-change media though)
Fantastic. Please provide a list of papers we can read on these tests. Of course now that you have told me where to look I will look in Google Scholar.
Thanks. You are very kind.
So it is well known. But if the people buy it, it sells.
We vote with our dollar bill ❤
So, these people creating all these additives... They knew it all along! 😱
Brucella loves Erythritol, one of the few bacteria that prefer sugar alcohols.
"The presence of erythritol in the placentas of goats, cattle, and pigs has been proposed as an explanation for the accumulation of Brucella bacteria found at these sites."
Meanwhile, sugar alcohols can have antibiotic behavior for some species of bacteria. The bacteria's mileage may vary...
Thank you for sharing this with us.
I just started getting bloating but,
fortunately, at 86 I am nearing
the “deep sleep” farewell.
Hey stop that! At 86 and your typing UA-cam comments - you're rockin' on to 100 pal!!
Be well. :D
You got this bud! If you're YouTubing competenly them you're not there yet
Yeah my father is 95 now and he still engages & does stuff online. Age can be just a number!
Sugar alcohols make me extremely sick . The first time I discovered this I thought I was having some kind of organ failure . I finally figured out the erythritol in the Lillys brand chocolate I bought at Whole Foods was the culprit . It was horrible!! I started cramping , sweating and just feeling like I was going to have a blow out . This was years ago but I believe it gave me a headache too . Definitely killed my guts ! Never again!
@mrsjohnson1743 just because they affected him, does not mean it will affect you in the same way.
So can u use monk fruit sweetener which seems to has xylitol
Caroline, could you please tell me how much of the Lilly's chocolate it was and how much time it took to develop symptoms? Thank you.
Lilys has inulin too.. too much of that really gasses me up so bad 😖
Blowout ! Yup never eat the sugarfree desserts on a cruiseship.
I am a third year medical student. Thank you so much for explaining the condition, symptoms, and your struggle with it. You are very brave for making this information known on UA-cam. I will be sure to watch for this in future patients of mine.
I'm glad to see a medical student that's taking interest in this subject. We need more people like you.
Thank you for going deeper than what is taught at medical school. Please, please also teach yourself about endometriosis. It's so badly taught and there is no formal training and millions of us suffer because of this.
You're going to be an awesome Doctor ❤
Thank you Sabine for this video! By three minutes into this video I was ugly crying out of sheer joy. ❤ It took me over 20 years to figure out what I was allergic to. Just 2018 I finally realized it was sugar alcohols! Cutting them off made all the difference in the world to me, where as no doctor was able to help me at all. And thank you for including list of classification numbers, there is some that I don't have on my list yet. And I hope you see this comment because when it comes for apples there is two cultivars that are safe for me to eat. Royal gala and red delicious. And then there are those that I cannot eat at all like pink lady and honey crunch. And I do miss watermelon terribly. But no amount of "it tastes nice" is enough for me to risk the reaction that for me usually starts within five minutes of ingesting sugar alcohols. It's so validating to know there are people like me out there. I've yet to meet anyone in real life.
@@sethtenrec They are all 'supermarket apples' designed, literally, for prolonged 'shelf life' = hard as bullets and mostly flavourless, versus the older varieties that had flavour and texture but shorter supermarket handling resilience !
I can handle whole apples, but Apple juice, cider, or cider vinegar I have to avoid unless in very small amounts.
Yes, watermelon contains erythritol I read. No wonder it made me belch and bloat!
You aren't "allergic" to them. You can't metabolize them and they upset your digestive system. Not the same thing. I know I'm being pedantic, but an allergy is a very different and much more serious thing and the term should be used correctly.
It's a metabolic problem, feed your gut. Use probiotic in gastric acid resistant capsules.
"Irritable bowel syndrome which seems to be doctor's speech for we don't know what you have, but it's the only thing left on the list, now please go away." EXACTLY my experience. GI doctors use IBS and IBD as a catch-all when they don't feel like doing any more work to figure out what's wrong.
IBS is, I was told, or was at the time, a diagnosis by exclusion, as you said. IBD is not. Irritable bowel sydrome cannot be seen with a scope, biopsy or blood test. Inflammatory bowel disease can.
Also something to put on the insurance forms.
This is something I've said to people for years after my experience years ago with other things. I have noticed some issues when I chew gum so this reaches me at a good time to catch another issue I had suspected.
similarly, BPD gets used as a catch all "something's wrong, but go away."
It's largely the modern Hysteria diagnosis
I’ve had UC since I was 17 and I am now 70. I understand fully the discomfort of abdominal pain and bloating. I have not found a single thing that causes this. But you do learn to live with the pain, gas and bleeding. Most days I can block it out, although nearby toilet facilities are a must! I’m very glad you have found a cure for your problem.
I gave up on talking to doctors when I was an infant. I figured out for myself what caused my migraines and 'IBS', and now avoid 'less nutrative sweeteners' as much as I already avoid 'non-nutrative sweeteners'.
It's not easy - my diet is increasingly restricted as my government obliges food manufacturers to medicate the populace - but I'm functional; something I wasn't before.
I get the impression that my GP just uses Google for everything. It's like IT Support: half the time, their efforts are akin to 'turning it off and on again' and hoping for improvement.
Thank you so much for posting this! I'm a fellow “IBS” sufferer, and this has given me another avenue of attack. The digestive system is insane, and biology is so complex! I really do appreciate you making this video.
Switch to a species specific diet and see what happens to your IBS.
Cookies are a new invention in the 300.000 year history of Homo Sapiens.
No other animal is constantly changing its diet except for us..
It is so complex, and we know startlingly little about how the entire digestive system works. Part of this is a function of technology -- we didn't have the ability to investigate it at a genetic/molecular level until just recently -- and part is the same reason we don't know much about the brain: you can really only study it while active and in-situ, and that's very, very hard to do.
I'm was about to try a low dose of an anti-depressant for digestive issue because nothing else seems to consistently work. But now am going to try cutting out diet drinks with artificial sweteners to see what happens. It is crazy how all you can do is try treatments hoping something works. The government needs to fund research on diagnosing digestive issues because it is an epidemic. Obesity got mounjaro and ozempic to quash that hunger, but what about all the digestive issues? The digestive issues aren't going away when people lose weight.
After 45 years of suffering, I diagnosed myself. I can't digest the sugar alcohols, fructose, lactose or whole grains. I follow a low fodmap eating plan, only eat white breads, pasta and rice, and don't eat dairy except hard cheese. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I have a whole new life.
great video. Don't feel stupid. Many of us suffer from issues the doctors diagnose as "you don't have anything." This is always reassuring when the pain comes because now you know the pain is not real, so nothing to worry about
Your communication style in this video had a distinct different feel, it almost felt more natural in the expression than the science presentations, like less scripted or robotic in a way. Loved the video, glad to hear you're doing better now!
This is the first time I've heard her swear. The frustration is real.
@@christ8590 I've heard Sabine drop the F-bomb a few times in the past, as well as other colorful metaphors, when she spoke her mind about politics. It was always outside of her regular science news videos.
It's the glasses.
The F bomb threw me off. Never thought I'd hear Sabine launch an F bomb.
This is likely what's been my problem for years. I've had exactly the same symptoms and lengthy analysis of my bowels as you, and I'll be digging into this ASAP. Thank you for sharing this sensitive topic.
thank you for giving back! ❤
its worth also looking into "Cruciferous Vegetables" a family of related common vegetables we learnt the other day that my spouse cannot tolerate. Finally we connect the dots after their 5th majorly negative "experience" caused by chowing down on a large portion of individual vegetables from this family on different occasions.
@@madJesterfulwas it cauliflower? I have the same issue, broccoli and kale are fine but cauliflower kills me.
@@panicsounds2239 it was 🤣 cabbage was bad too. This was after the incident with the beats... and the broccoli, but none had been as bad
hey Jackie. did it work for you?
I have IBS, have for over a decade, and sugar messes me up both gastrically and skin-wise (cystic acne). I switched to stevia, monk fruit, some other sugar alternatives, a few years ago. My ibs didn’t get worse, but my energy did. My gynecological health did. I wasn’t even eating sugar alcohols, specifically. -.-
Unfortunately, I now suffer from not enjoying my diet at all because it’s so restrictive and I can’t even have sugary treats once in a while.
even after I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, I asked my gastroenterologist what I should be eating to alleviate the problem. He exact words, "diet has no effect on disease". Needless to say, he's no longer my doctor. Scary part is he was top decorated and graduated at the top of his class from a very reknowned university.
Maybe try watching on UA-cam Dr Ken Berry or Dr Shawn Baker talk about the carnivore diet and how it has healed people with serious health issues
@@AP-nx6xo The event I described occurred 10 years ago. I have already found solutions to the problem. The specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) is for people with my condition, which can also include Crohn's, Celiac, and Autism. University of Chicago Rush Hospital ran a 3 year clinical trial to prove the efficacy of the diet. In short, it's a diet based on how food breaks down when digested. The lining of the intestines have small openings to allow digested food to pass through and enter the bloodstream where it can be transported where needed. when the gut is inflamed, the openings are reduced preventing many nutrients from being absorbed. The unabsorbed food continues downstream and enters the large intestine where millions of different bacteria in symbiotic homeostasis are awaiting. Some of those bacteria feast on the food and multiply very rapidly upsetting the balance of power and produce gases as byproducts. i.e. fermentation. this is what leads to gas and bloating after a meal. This gas produces a pressure on the intestine and irritates it. If it continues for prolonged periods of time, it can cause ulcers to form. hence the term ulcerative colitis. The solution is to only eat foods that break down into the smallest molecules, referred to as monosaccharides (e.g. leafy greens, berries, melons, lean meat, fin fish), as only they are small enough to get through the openings in the intestinal lining. Foods that break down into disaccharides or polysaccharides (e.g. starches, rice, potatoes, pastas, fatty meats, shell fish, ultra-processed foods, ...) must be avoided as they will contribute to fermentation and exacerbate the problem. full details can be found in the book "breaking the vicious cycle" which has been a best seller on the subject for more than 50 years. There are also derivatives of the diet such as the GAPS diet, Autoimmune Protocoal (AIP), and FODMAPS as each patient responds differently. All of these diets also explain why Sabine is having the problem with sugar alcohols as they are not monosaccharides
Technically Dr. is not incorrect. It’s an autoimmune disease and very different from what this video is about. Your immune system haywire and attacking your own tissue. Is there a relationship to food - maybe? But studies have not shown as direct a link as we like (despite a million and one YT videos saying it’s absolutely food). Actual studies show the link isn’t as clear as we’d like. Possibly dairy is implicated in the pathogenesis but we just don’t have firm data to say yes or no. And fad diets rarely, if ever, work to decrease UC. I guess the proper answer would have been - we don’t know. Also please be wary of internet doctors, celebrities and people trying to sell you something. These people ALWAYS have the answer but are simultaneously looking to sell you something or get more subscribers.
Doctors are not allowed to encourage patients about diet and what not to eat because it'll cost them their jobs and cut into their profit mill. Healthy and dead people are of no use to doctors who are big Pharma's agents. Sick people are.
Medicine is late to this game. I graduated UCSD med in 2003. Nutrition/diet wasn't taught for one minute in class or on the wards. Changing now, but remember, in medicine, there is just too much out there for one person to absorb. But if you have a GI issue, I'd be looking at the younger GI docs. Probably trained in diet by now with all the issues society is having.
I got diagnosed with IBS and tried dozens of diets. Will try this and if it works I will be forever thankful for your work 🙏🏽
Try carnivore/plant-free diet!
@@btudrusFixed all of my digestive issues and then some.
update?
Congratulations on an excellent piece of research. No need to apologise for sharing it with us. I'm not intolerant to any food products but a good friend has 'IBS' and I will be sharing your findings.
This reinforces the importance of full disclosure on processed food products.
Good research, very well communicated. It's what you do so well.
Thanks for the kind words. I wish your friend all the best!
Sugar alcohols cause digestive problems for most people and in sufficient quantities, pretty much everyone.
The reason is simply that they're slow to digest and so are only partially digested in the small intestine. This is why they have a lower glycemic index than sugar.
On passing into the large intestine, they're digested by bacteria and that process creates gas.
I once tried replacing all the sugar I add to foods and drinks with maltitol. The amount of gas that produced was something to behold!
@@antonystringfellow5152I find food easily too sweet. And after years of knowing better, every now and then I buy a product saying "with less added suger" to find out it has sweeteners. My body just thinks it's sugar and produces insulin. The result: I don't like the taste and feel bad.
If I suspected sugar alcohols I would also suspect Liver involvement as the Liver processes alcohols and Liver pain is abdominal pain. High sugar alcohol content might also be handled the same way as overconsumption of alcoholic drinks, and one might be damaging their liver with sugar alcohols over time in the same way and alcoholic does. Running Liver Function Tests might be a very good idea to rule out the Liver as the source of pain.
@@BillySBCShe made the statement they're actually neither sugar nor alcohol per se, which is intriguing.
Yes! Sorbitol is a no no for me too! Used to have terrible tummy cramps till I stopped Sorbitol out of my diet!
Huge respect to you for sharing your experience with the aim of hopefully helping others.
Very admirable and your contribution to the community is appreciated.
Hi, Sabine. My husband and I also went on our own reasearch mission regarding diet. Its been 25 years. We are in our 60s now and in good health for our ages.
We limit processed foods, avoid foods with nitrites, buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat, and prepare our own meals. We also purchase high quality vitamins, supplements, and probiotics.
We cured our digestive issues. Your gut IS the basis of your entire immune sytem. Vitamin D3 and magnesium are also needed.
We also do not get sick anymore-- even from the common cold.
The last visit we had to the doctor was 8 years ago, just to have him say we are in good health and he was perplexed when we told him about our diet.
The age tolerance thing makes a lot of sense. I always used to eat tons of fruits, dried fruits and drunk fruit juices and smoothies. Turns out my body reached its limit at some point, the symptoms were terrible without going into TMI detail. Turns out it was sorbitol/sugar alcohol intolerance. I still eat fruit (some fruits have a lot of sugar alcohols, others do not not) and drink juices but never on an empty stomach. The order you eat things in really matters.
Hi! Could you elaborate please what you mean about the order ? Or Specifically tips for this? Thanks!
I would suggest Jessie Inchauspé (aka Glucose Goddess) Instagram, UA-cam content, along with her book. A big part of what she talks is the order in which you eat the food matters in a context of lowering your glucose levels which is key for a healthier body.
@@MrNixaboolook into meal sequencing
@@MrNixabooeat fiber-rich foods first, then fats and carbohydrates, then protein
Glucose Goddess.
About 6 years ago my wife and I went to a health center that looked at a much broader spectrum of food influences, genetics and nerve function. All far beyond anything insurance will cover. One of the simpler things I learned is I have elevated mercury levels.
For years, decades, I put up with ear pain that no one could explain. Finally get referred to the right specialist at a university hospital - a rare form of migraine.
The bottom line is this:
1) Thank you for sharing this. Until someone explains the details, our discomforts are often dismissed as just something we ate.
2) I’ve been dismissed so many times as “That happens to everybody” and “There’s nothing wrong with you”. We MUST become our own advocate.
Was it high levels of mercury that caused that rare migraine for you? How are your ears now?
I've been suffering from ear problems for years but (I'm 32) and I would love to know what helped you.
Have a great day.
Try being a woman or black 😂it’s 10 times worse. If you have anxiety? Oh then every symptom you have is bc of that. I used to think doctors were gods..now I know they’re just particular scam artists for whatever their field is
Yes, if you have enough money, that’s the key phrase in there
@@DajJednego Not that I understand, no. The migraines forced me to stop using a CPAP for Apnea. I just avoid triggers.
there is mercury still in multidose vials of flu vaccine. might also be in any multidose vial of vaccine.
I have been lactose intolerant all my life, with very similar symptoms, so I sympathize. It’s good to have someone being honest about the subject.
Tested lactose intolerant? Something like 90% of people who cannot tolerate dairy or gluten are not actually intolerant to those substances but it is instead the glyphosate from weed killers that causes the intolerance. I can tolerate a lot more dairy (amount ingested over time) that is organic than non-organic dairy as an example.
@@0ooTheMAXXoo0 I was diagnosed as a baby, years before glyphosate was common.
@@5roundsrapid263You were diagnosed as a baby? What were your parents expecting? A litter of puppies?
I believe there are actual milks that contain lactase in them (the enzyme used to break down lactose) that you can try. Or try finding lactase supplements and ingest them everytime you wanna eat something with lactose, perhaps that can help.
Friend of mine always got stomach pain after longer driving trips. Had no idea what caused it. Ate lots of sugarfree candy behind the wheel for focus and out of habit. Only when he ran out one day and felt great he found the cause of his problem…
Sabine, I love your sense of humor, but also your simple kindness, prioritizing others well being ahead of your own privacy in this case. Thanks for just being a great person. :-)
Very informative video. And it fits so well to a med school lecture I just went through in preparation for an exam: sorbitol is actually converted to fructose in the small intestine. It then uses the GLUT 5 carrier, so the same carrier as fructose usually uses to enter the cells of the intestine wall. As some people seem to have only low capacity to resorb fructose that way when you eat sorbitol and now have all that extra fructose you can't take it in all at once, and it is going to ferment in your intestine leaving you with the symptoms described.
Good to know.
I thought I was allergic to fructose because I was getting sick from eating dried fruit. Allergy test was negative for fructose but do you think it could be the problem your describing here?
@@ebk7073344dried apricots??? Sulphur dioxide preservative?
Thankyou for explaining!👍🙂
Fructose is one devilish substance. If it wasn't for this, lots of sweet stuff wouldn't be as detrimental to one's health.
Even regular sugar (cane/beet sugar)
is made up one ring of fructose
(5 carbons), and one ring of glucose (6 carbons, which is the regular
sugar used in energy production /
metabolism), joined together.
Every bit of fructose is a burden on
your system. But glucose powder
can substitute for regular sugar on many occasions. And it's not as sweet, too...
Love, Ally 👩🏼🦰🇦🇺🐟🍇🏝️🍊🏖️🌈🙋🏼♀️
As someone who's suffered from GI trouble since birth your quick rant at 3:05 had me rolling!!! It's so true, too.
Just when you think you've learned all the no-no additives they go and tweek a compound just a touch and then add 30 letters, a couple numbers and a dash or two...
I’m actually crying - thank you so much!!! I’ve been suffering almost 4 years and beyond confused for the same attempts to cut out various foods. I’m so hopeful your solution helps me too… Danke sehr! Sie helfen mir! Hopefully your voice can be a change to the food industry. Again - thank you.🙏
It absolutely will help you if you have been eating sugar alcohols. Keep in mind that some are worse than others (because some break down more in the GI tract).
If your symptoms go away after avoiding all sugar alcohols for a week, then you might try some of the more benign ones to see if you can tolerate them (like erythritol). Definitely stay away from the worst ones like isomalt, and be wary of common ones like sorbitol and maltitol...
@@FromDesertTown Worst one for my so far was Xylit. Uh boy, I thought I was going to blow out my sphincter. Maltit seemed harmless in comparison.
@@FromDesertTown “it absolutely will help you if you have been eating sugar alcohols”, says who? You know nothing about this person yet you feel confident enough to make statements like that?
@@conorstewart2214 well yeah, sabine just explained they break down in the GI tract and feed your microbiome to the point where it can become hyperactive and irritate the bowel. Cutting sugar alcohols out means no food for the bacteria, so less GI upset, even if sugar alcohols arent the cause of the upset, overactive bacteria is very probably the cause (if not a a defect or a pathology, but after 4 years you'd rule most things like this out), so cutting them out would most likely benefit this person regardless of the cause of their symptoms. At least this is the way i understood it
I fought for 30 yrs feeling ill after certain meals.. For me it was tomatoes.. Anything made with tomatoes... I love tomatoes...
It’s so brave for you to talk openly about your stomach issues. I’m glad you found your cause. One important piece is for people who unknowingly make people feel uncomfortable for not accepting food or desserts in social settings. For instance a birthday cake or treat at work. Or all going out to a restaurant with one type of food. It is often seen as rude or insulting to decline so most people just eat it under social pressure and deal with the consequences privately. We should normalize helping yourself to food or making it okay to decline without an expectation of a medical explanation.
Thank you for saying this!! I’m so tired of having to give a TED talk on my food intolerance when in social settings. People take it incredibly personally when I decline joining them for a meal out. I can’t eat essentially anything from most restaurants. Just “not going with” is so much easier for me, and if we normalized the idea that people have these intolerances, maybe I wouldn’t have to launch into the science lesson just to keep friends 😅
@@dovebair Suggest a 'buffet restaurant' where at least you can serve and choose for yourself ! Then if you decline their choice you will have a valid reason ! Or are buffets that bad too?
@@linmal2242 I have to ask “what’s the entire ingredient list” for every dish in the buffet! Even when I explain what nightshades are to staff, they often can’t hold the whole, long, new list in their head at a time and miss things. I always feel lucky when I can speak directly to a chef / line cook because they have a better relationship with the food :)
Great tip. I'll add that to my list of 7,465 different things I can't eat
there it is.
Have you looked into FODMAP?
Don't worry, no real food has sugar alcohols in
@@ULTRAOutdoorsman Indeed, not if you shot it, used a spear to acquire it, dug it out with your own hands from the soil or picked from a tree.
@@danndankshe quite literally says sugar alcohols are present in fruits and vegetable naturally
I was using erythritol, and zyletol almost exclusively for three or four years. I couldn't figure out why I was so sick. I had so many tests done. Even an upper and lower GI. With not concrete answers. I did lose weight, and that was my main goal at the time. We went on a vacation, and I didn't take my sweetener. By the time we got back home I didn't have any of the symptoms....I felt betrayed by the sweet concoction I had been relying on to take off the weight that had haunted me for years. I got a little bitter, and gave up. I gained all my weight back in a matter of a couple years. I have come to terms with my self destruction, and have a plan to move forward on my weight loss journey without sugar alcohols. There are no shortcuts. Self-discipline is really the only answer. Thank you for your video. Have a blessed day.
My experience is very similar. I feel your disappointment and frustration. I'm right there with you. No shortcuts, which is hard, but at the same time, good to know answers. Good luck to you!
What an informative video, thank you for taking the time to make and share it. The answer, of course, is to only eat food in its original form--no processed foods at all.
I have been on a food journey the last several years with emphasis on low-carb, whole foods. I started with general low carb by just eliminating all grains. This was the hardest part for me, so I took my time. After adjustment I found my body reacted so positively that I then moved into Paleo/Keto to varying degrees of strictness, then to full carnivore for a while and have now settled comfortably into ketovore. At first, I wondered what I would eat without pastas, breads, packaged and convenience foods but, several years on now, I find it so very simple. Last night I ate a steak that I grilled myself, seasoned with only salt and topped with butter. The day before a leafy salad with tomatoes and bacon (additive & sugar free) dressed with homemade vinaigrette. Real food. Really satisfying. No gastric upset. And before anyone asks, I am as regular as the sunrise--you'd be surprised how well the human bowel works when it's not overstuffed with indigestible fiber.
Ah, yes, I didn't realize I had an issue until a UA-camr I watch said that sugar alcohols hurt some people's stomachs, and that's when I realized the food I ate that had sugar alcohol instead of sugar gave me gas. Sugar makes me tired, so I always check for the amount when I buy something new, and if it's like "Keto-friendly" it often has sugar alcohol
I have a similar issue, and I was misdiagnosed for 15 years. The thing I figured out is that I was non celiac gluten intolerance. Even though I never showed up on the blood tests as celiac. It has gotten much worse as I’ve gotten older and the symptoms have changed with it. Gut issues and joint issues now.
I now just eat a diet of natural 1 ingredient foods like meat and veg, or rice and meat and I’m fine.
I love this woman and only "discovered" her a few days ago. What a gem! Science. Facts. Humor. Thank you for what you do. Love you Sabine! May you soon acquire another 9 million subscribers.
If you like physics, you should read her books too, brilliant.
@@Thomas-gk42 Thank you, I'll do that.
Sometimes, « fucking » is the only appropriate word to use.
Sadly, I seem to use that word quite a bit 😕
sabine, thank you from the very very bottom of my heart. im only 19, about to turn 20, and ive been having life ruining gut problems for the past year since going on antibiotics and now that im off my stomach still is fighting my diet, this information is crucial. youre doing great work for many.
I’m sure you’re already taking/eating probiotics, but just in case case you’re not, do :)
My struggle after antibiotics for years was overgrowth of yeast or bad bacteria in my gut. Eating fiber rich foods and taking probiotics helped.
Drink a little Kefer. Only the plain because the flavored ones have sweeteners in them. Same as I only eat plain yogurt.
Don't rule out ibd. It's a young people problem.
Thank you Sabine, and may you live long and prosper.
I needed to lose weight and I started Nutrisystems. The first two months were a horror, as described. I called them and they told me to use the “sugar alcohol” filter in ordering my food. Problem solved, immediately.
IBS is a weird diagnosis of a symptom... your left to your own devices to figure out what's causing it
Fr. It's the medical fields way of saying "I don't know, you figure it out."
im 32 im suffering a LOT with my digestive system, sometimes i think ill die, this video gives me some hope thanks u ❤
24 here and same :(
Try and see if your doctor will do the test for SIBO. Then if it's that, do the Whole30 process. Worked for me!
Do a prolonged water fast (4-7 days or so) after eating a bunch of bowel stimulating fruit on the first day to clease your colon (green apples work for me, figs have a fame for that as well) and then start reinintroducing food by eating fruit and fermented classics like pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi. After a month or so you can research some *pre*biotic supplement (not *pro*biotic). Prebiotics are fibers that beneficial gut bacteria eat to multiply while probiotics are the bacteria themselves. Look up the first one and take a good quality supplement a month after your fast
For me crucifer vegetables are really my bane. If I eat just a tiny bit of broccoli or whatever I can have incredible stomach cramps for hours. You should definitely try to keep a food diary and try find out what causes your problems. Hopefully there are some foods that you can tolerate well...
Simplify your diet down to non processed vegetables and meat, organic if possible. Take probiotics, then reintroduce foods one by one. You want to isolate what food is causing your inflammation. Once isolated, you know what to avoid. Eating natural, non processed is rhetorical way to go.
Thank you for posting this! Hard to diagnose health issues are so bad, and being open with each other is the only thing that helps many people. A huge, undocumented number.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful videos! Advice: I've never suffered from any digestive problems (age 81) - almost no processed foods, few biscuits, chocolate only at Christmas (wow, what a treat!), vegetarian with dairy products, home-grown garden produce, home-made organic wholemeal sourdough bread (for the last 50 years). Never a headache, never constipated, never 'flu (I mean never!) My wife the same. Good luck with your intestines Sabine!
I love that you use live ads and not the pre recorded ones. It makes a difference from the audience perspective
Missing something like this is more natural than not missing it. Usually it takes a "break through" moment like the one you had with those cookies to see it.
Thank you Sabine! Last February I was diagnosed pre-diabetic, which wasn't surprising. More than 100 lbs overweight, Sugar and carb addict, etc. My doctor prescribed Metformin and other stuff. I decided not to do that. I completely cut out sugar and alcohol and went back to the 1960 Weight Watchers program with very low carb (not pure keto) and intermittent fasting. I have lost 40 lbs so far and still on my way. Last month, I decided to try to find sugar free hard candies. I bought several kinds and then discovered that most of them have maltodextrin, which Dr. Berg shows is worse than sugar for insulin resistance. I knew that they had other sugar alcohols that were kind of ok. I threw most of them away. But there is one kind - Werther's sugar free that does not have maltodextrin, but does have other sugar alcohols. Well, I love them. I don't eat them all day long, but usually a few in the evening. I started noticing a dramatic increase in farting! Luckily, I live alone, so it doesn't matter and it seems to be in the evening. No cramps, though, and I used to have huge abdominal pain at night from time to time, which I think had more to do with bread products, which I don't eat at all now. Anyway, I was suspecting the candies causing the gas. Right now, it is worth it to maintain my eating program, but if I had pain with it, I would stop them altogether. I use primarily monkfruit drops in my coffee and tea and occassionally stevia, but I don't like that much because of the aftertaste. Thank you again for this important information. Best wishes!
Well done. I heard Dr Berg's warning on maltodextrin too. Very valuable health information 👍
Well done on your weight loss. Food is addictive. I'm an addict too.
Ou are feeling better. WW is a great way to train oneself to eat well, healthy.
If the info is from Dr Eric Berg, it is usually not valuable at all, well, it may be valuable to Berg's wallet. He is a scam artist and snake oil salesman (and a Scientologist, by the way, which fits perfectly). Be cautious!
Quite a discovery. After six months of feeling bad and very low energy, ups and downs, I minimized carbs and sugars and improved a lot. Like you, no intolerance markers in blood. In my case the monster triggers 6-8 hours after intake, but lasts 36 hours. I am a Chem. Eng., angry by now with the food industry that is killing us and with the medical science/practice that is not moving fast enough in diagnostics neither fighting the food industry to end all this poisoning. Thank you Sabine, you were quite wise and generous in spreading this out.
Your accent is just great, what combination of nations 😊
It can still be grains, even without gluten. I found out by accidentally not eating any bread for 3 days. I ate rice instead.
Yes, it is hard to figure out by ourselves.
We keep getting more of these the more additives we eat. Each of them could be the next worst thing.
Try 7 day diets with each one target food or ingredient. Fructose, grains, meat (yes, that exists), milk products ...
All at once is impossible.
A big part of the problem is capitalism and an industry that wants you to buy, buy, buy!
If we just ate regular plant/fruit derived sugars AND lived without sugars/high calories them as necessary then it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But it would probably hurt sales.
I cut out everything except meat. If the ingredients has more than meat, salt, and water, then it's a no go. Shockingly enough, it actually worked. I can walk between rooms without becoming exhausted now, and had my first regular bowel movement in almost 10 years. Now comes the fun part of adding stuff back in, and waiting to see what ends up obliterating me back to a life of terminal porcelain throne squatting. I planned on going pure meat for a month, and then adding in one new ingredient every week, and sitting on it for a week to see how I handle it.
I 'm going to try adding rice as my first new addition on the first of February.
Wish me luck. @@alis49281
Actually "science" is trying to make a head of these issues, but they are v.complex, there is a sea of legal problems, studies take time, new stuff is introduced v.fast ...to quote a good speaker, dr. Chris van Tulleken, we are "part of an experiment that you din't volunteer for" , here's a link with a lecture about ultra-processed foods that are so common today - ua-cam.com/video/5QOTBreQaIk/v-deo.htmlsi=Bwqv2dUB-GwmOvWp
I had diarrhea for 9 weeks due to sugar alcohols. I had no idea until I finally saw a nutritionist. Thank you for sharing!
I'm glad that you noted that the inability to digest sugar alcohols is a big selling point for diabetics and people wishing to limit their insulin response to eating (e.g. low carb dieters). However these are usually clearly marked and sold as such. I am surprised that these are getting put into regular food, and being hidden in the fine print. Hopefully the EU or the FDA make it such that any product containing sugar alcohols above a certain amount are marked on the front with the type and amount.
As a diabetic I was always told when calculating carbs subtract out Sugar Alcohols. Now I know why and why they are called Sugar Alcohol. I am pretty sure that in the US that it is required to be listed as a sub total under Carbohydrates.
I don't think it's required, but companies voluntarily do it because they are allowed to subtract sugar alcohols (and dietary fiber) from the carb total and report that as "Net Carbs"
Sugar alcohols are not low carb. They are useless for weightloss.
Go look at the nutrition facts of regular hershey's vs "sugar free". The carbs are the same. The sugar free is not lower carb. I learned the sugar free existed a few days ago when some relatives brought over some halloween candy. It seemed great until I looked at the nutrition label. This "sugar free" is a scam. It replaced sugar with another carb. If you are going to eat carbs, you may as well just eat the regular version and enjoy it more.
I'm an American. Don't count on the FDA. They're severely understaffed and with the latest incarnation of "justice" here (aka Supreme Court) the FDA, along with pretty much any other regulatory agency, will likely be judged "unconstitutional", leaving corporations the ability to make much more money.
Welcome to capitalism, where it's profits over people!
your brilliant scientific and logical mind not only solves your health problem to which no doctor can give a viable advice, but also encourages us all to think like you to face the seemingly unsolvable daily problems 👍👍👍
Great episode! As a diabetic I tried a few of these and found the digestive troubles not worth it. However, I had a serious problem with milk proteins that was nearly unnoticeable for most of my life which turned acute after a diet that used mozzarella cheese sticks as a snack. Took a year to figure out the cause though having a stomach covered with open sores kept the docs from dismissing it. Once cut out everything healed pretty quickly. A round of bone marrow destroying chemo reset my immune system and my allergy and reaction disappeared. Very important that you shared this. Glad you were clever enough to figure this out!❤
that is fascinating thanks so much for sharing! it seems there is a cure of sorts... though really nobody's body should be developing an allergy or any kind of reaction to something like cheese or any other food in the first place. as a biochemist i really want to know what starts it in the first place. as the expert in your own experience, do you have any thoughts you wouldn't mind sharing?
Thank you. I’ve been struggling with a sugar free Red Bull addiction for a few YEARS. The signs are here that I’m wrecking my gut.
Honestly, any Red Bull (any energy drink that's similar) wrecks havoc on my GI system, with the sole difference that sugar one has the benefit of ruining my teeth as a bonus.
First of all, if you have to drink it, enjoy it at room temp, don't chug it down and don't drink on an empty stomach.
Secondly, assuming you're after the effects of caffeine... Yes, caffeine also tends to make my GI issues worse, but you're still much better off drinking coffee. Hell, even Coca Cola is better than Red Bull.
At least that's my experience.
It is even more frustrating as different sugar alcohols can produce different results. Erythritol gives me horrendous stinky gas 3-6 hours after consumption while Sorbitol doesn't appear to do anything. Thank you for speaking out on these sketchy 'sweeteners'.
Different gut flora , reacting to different nutrients , in different guts.
Excellent video! Sugar alcohols actually work as a laxative. In the US, they used to put warnings on the label to indicate that overconsumption of a product with sugar alcohol will cause a laxative effect (a nicer way of saying “diarrhea”). I’ve noticed now that manufacturers of sugar-free treats aren’t using sugar alcohols as much anymore, and they’re replacing it with allulose, monk fruit, stevia, and inulin.
Don't inulin cause flatulence?
What's inulin
Monk fruit, stevia, and inulin cause the same issues for me. Not diarrhea, however, but stomach cramps and flatulence.
Xylitol(good for teeth), Mannitol(sugar shift probiotic and helps with PKD), Glyvia(check it out) are better Allulose and Monk fruit have good taste as opposed to the ones mentioned(whether or not they have the an "after-feel" as opposed to that bittersweet aftertaste is a matter of perspective)
l love Miraculin from miracle berry
For me I had many of the same symptoms, and it took me years to figure out. But in my case it was an intolerance to garlic and onions so there are other intolerances for people to discover and not just sugar alcohols. It is amazing how many things have garlic or onion as an ingredient.
there are a lot of sugar alcohols particulary in onion and garlic ;)
Maybe you have SIBO. small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
Thing is though sugar alcohols at jd onions and garlic are beneficial to your gut micro flora
ironically onions and garlic taste kinda good because they are so rich in natural pesticides and taste repellents that they taste kinda spicy and raw. who knew. same with chilli
@@eldictator1you can't make this claim. we do not know which bacteria is good or bad or any one good affects your gut bacteria. it's a result of mood of tiny changes in your environment
This is the thing I have sometimes thought about FODMAP. It’s so hard to follow, and you won’t know what actually made the difference unless you gradually add in each thing. It takes a lot of discipline and effort and as a result can be quite expensive. Removing just one thing at a time might be easier.
Did you see how she deftly slid in the f-word into her description of the sugar alcohols? I loved it. Such a prolific mind. I hope she is over her sugar problems, now that she has it all figured...so she can further enlighten us ignorami on the quantum stuff. I love her videos.
Nothing against this video. I see hard science and that's what Sabine shines at. I don't happen to have those symptoms (or not yet), but thanks for the quality video.
Right.
Well I've suffered for years now, and this may end my pain. So deal with it. You'll be fine.
"Nothing against this video, but thanks for the quality video"
I've been diagnosed with sorbitol intolerance over 10 years ago and never really succeeded in cutting it out but kinda just learned to live with it. Now I know why, because it's likely other sugar alcohols as well AND they don't always have to be declared as ingredients and they're virtually everywhere, including actual fruit and vegetables. What did help me a lot in the end is massively cutting down on sweets in general and supplementing a good chunk of fiber. What helped additionally (in an unrelated effort to not take on ever more weight) was shifting my diet towards protein as main energy source as opposed to carbs... when you stuff yourself with salads, diary, and lean, mostly white meats, there's very little room left for eating any sweet stuff to begin with :D
What fiber? I have been using Sunfiber (partially hydrolyzed guar gum). Unlike psyllium husk, it does not gel up when mixed with a liquid. You can mix it into anything you put into a water bottle and drink it all day, it won't turn solid on you.
If you look up scientific papers you can find actual testing to show it helps with IBS. "Partially hydrolyzed guar gum in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome"
i've heard that dairy helps from a great many people. curious if you personally have tried vitamin D and K, and/or blueberries?
January is/was Carnivore month. Would be a great time to try an elimination diet and slowly reintroduce veggies/fruits in February. May help to focus in on what triggers you.
Try NOW brand liquid stevia extract for sweetening. It has zero calories and is made from stevia leaves. You use only a few drops for coffee or tea or cocoa. I tried making it from fresh stevia leaves and Everclear 190 proof ethyl alcohol, but the NOW brand is much better.
Sabine, I recently discovered your channel and I absolutely love it. I’m learning so much and I love your sense of humor. Thank you!
Thank you! My daughter has been so sick and when I saw this the light went on. I’ve sent this to her and I think this will be one of the few things she hasn’t checked. Thank you so much!
The importance of the gut microbiome can’t be overstated, yet it’s still a medical afterthought. For a few years, I suffered in the 60 minutes post-meals, particularly when dining out. Doctor said it could be IBS or hilariously-named “Dumping Syndrome.”
This all started after a two-round antibiotic treatment. In the end, I started taking a simple probiotic on recommendation from a coworker, and it resolved within 2 weeks. Doesn’t work for everybody, though. Lesson? Microbiome matters.
Some 90% of our seratonin is made by gut bacteria...
Why it isn't standard medical practice to prescribe probiotics alongside antibiotics is absolutely beyond me.
@@hieronymusbutts7349because probiotics dont *reallyz work
Antibiotics make is worse and yes its probiotics and psyllium husk which worked.
@@hieronymusbutts7349 So long as you're talking about traditional probiotic foods (yogurt, sour kraut, miso, kimchi, kombucha), yes I agree. But it's tricky with probiotic pills. We still don't really understand probiotics very well, and just as there have been people whose guts were severely damaged by antibiotics, there are people whose guts have been severely damanged by taking probiotics that turned out to be a very bad mix with their own personal gut flora. I'm not saying don't take probiotics, but it's also not as simple as just downing whatever random probiotic blend you can get your hands on. There are certain strains that are very well researched for their benefits to gut health (specific straings of L. Reuteri and B. Longum, for example, but you have to get the correct strain), and these are a good place to start--but warily.
Oh my gosh! I have celiac disease. I'm having a lot of digestive issues despite being gluten free. I have a new gastroenterologist who is listening to me and asking me to try simpler things first. I tried low fodmap diet. Its very hard. He said no artificial sweetners, but we didn't talk about suger alcohols. Next is a test for sibo. I'm going to be reading labels more carefully looking for sugar alcohols. Thank you! ❤❤
Adverse reactions to artificial sweeteners are much, much, much more rare than adverse reactions to sugar alcohols. So not sure why he started with the sweeteners.
@@4203105this is true of transient acute reactions, but I think the general issue with artificial sweeteners is that chronic consumption can further exacerbate gut biome imbalance.
How do you know you have CD?
I'm heterozygous at one gene location and I went GF, with considerable improvement, but as symptoms eventually return over and over, I have spent a few years cutting out more and more foods in an effort to remedy this.
Currently looking at mast cell activation syndrome and oxalate intolerance (sigh)...
It could be the toxic GLYPHOSATE sprayed on everything since it's used as a dessicant too.
Being treated for SIBO made a huge difference in my symptoms (called IBS, but who knows? 🤔😉). Before treatment (an antibiotic 🫤), when I ate simple carbs, the palm of my left hand would get tiny red bumps that eventually broke into a scaly surface, then disappear, no pain, no itch, just weird, and definitely related to having SIBO.
I'm so glad i came across this video! I recently started low FODMAP and it's helped with my digestive issues a lot. I had no idea what was causing it before. Great to hear one of my favorite youtubers can relate!
I find it fascinating that not everybody knows this about sugar alcohols! But then I remember that not everybody had an eating disorder and tried to replace all sugar in their diet and noticed the impact on the GI tract, so it makes sense.
Thisssssss. Literally I have been obsessed with sugar free things for so long
The fake sugarfree candy tastes so good too, it's a cruel trap for a food addict like me. Like the time i almost died of alcohol poisoning because the jello shots were so cute and tasty 😂💀
Great video. After suffering from debilitating IBS (called spastic colon when i was young) for 45 years, i self-diagnosed at the age of 60. I had had endless tests and doctor visits, but they found nothing, despite the fact that i had constant gas pain and embarrassing abdominal noises. It turns out, I'm fructose and lactose intolerant, and can't digest polyols or whole grains. How did i find all this out? One day at work i ate an apple and some watermelon, both very high in fructose. My abdomen swelled so badly with gas, i was almost in tears. Then i started googling. Within an hour i figured it out. I found fodmap information and a list of low fodmap foods and an eating plan. I cut out all fake sugars, dairy and whole grains, and voila, i had a whole new life. I now make most of my food from scratch, and never eat anything sweet that has any sweetener but sugar. Truly life-changing.
Credit to the doctor that diagnosed IBS, since a common treatment is the FODMAP diet, which excludes sugar alcohols (and other stuff).
Thank you Sabine. My wife and I constantly try to avoid processed foods, but it is becoming so difficult. Customers want cheap food products and supermarkets want a long shelf life. Take a look at margarine if you really want to scare yourself.
Great video! I'm sorry for your frustrating and painful journey before you finally found out the cause of your discomfort. I've gone through the same thing: no gluten, no sugar alcohols, no grains, no sugars, etc. Now I make everything we eat myself. If it doesn't come from an animal, the sea or is grown in the ground or found on a tree we don't it eat. It helps but it is more time consuming. Thank you for posting your experience. Take care.
I'm one. I've got it. I didn't know it was sugar alcohols, but I know I can't deal with sweeteners like sorbitol, xylitol or anything similarly spelled. I also know I can't take much fruit, but never knew the connection! This will make it easier to avoid stuff and further isolate some more of the food that I can't take. THANKS! ❤
Great video! And if you are trying to control your blood sugar, you should note that some of these sugar alcohols like maltitol have a significant number on the glycemic index and will cause an insulin response. So just because it is not a carb does not mean it will not cause an insulin spike.
Yes! A lot of people don't know this and are eating these "sugar free/ less sugar" making their diabetes or insulin resistance worse. People just need to research all these trends before jumping on them.
Yes, great point! One product that gets to me is Smartsweets. They’re marketed as better for you than sugar but the IMOs in their products will spike your blood sugar (and insulin) like crazy!
I suffered from chronic stomach issues until I cut out gluten. I was lucky that someone randomly suggested cutting out gluten and it worked. Within days I was back to normal. I'm glad you found out how to get your health back.
Most of my symptoms went away once i cut out dairy and reduced capsaicin, but I still have the unexplained flare ups now and again. I think it is worth repeating that the FODMAP diet is not meant to be a long-term lifestyle, but a short term scientific experiment to try to isolate your intolerance, so you can more effectively build a reasonable diet around that info.
Reasonable and important comment.
cutting out seed oils, sugar, antinutrients from plants like lectins, oxalates, phytates, etc. cut out most grains. cut out processed foods in general, and mostly eat animal products is what worked for me. raw aged cheese is good.
That is how it is meant to work, yes. But my experience, and that of most of the people with major gut issues I've encountered online, is that we can't tolerate any of the fodmaps once we cut them out; the gut won't heal itself just from removing fodmaps, so you're stuck not eating fodmaps for life unless you can figure out and heal the causes of your gut dysbiosis. The only people I've really seen able to reintroduce FODMAPs have been people that were diagnosed with SIBO and then resolved the SIBO, but SIBO is notoriously difficult to resolve. This is all what I'm actively doing right now, but it's basically a long, long (and expensive) process of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, because so little is known still about gut health, and what seems like a miracle cure for one person, will make the next person even worse.
I wish I had known all of this previously, and had tried addressing my gut health in other ways without eliminating FODMAPs from my diet, because my symptoms were more tolerable before I removed the FODMAPs, removing them has felt like a trap!
I really like it when people like you provide this info on a really public page. I've seen a lot of people with food intolerance/"autoimmune" issues say things were cured by a carnivore diet, I wonder if they had sugar alcohol issues as well since they cut out almost everything until they were only left with unprocessed meats.
Could very well be it.
You cannot cure autoimmune issues. After talking to lots of people with bowel issues you realise that a lot of the people advocating for diets are basing it all off of personal experiences that most of the time just happen to be coincidences, you can find people advocating for pretty much every kind of diet for the same issues so you really can’t trust any of it.
yep, tho the carnivores I know of who have adhered to it for years know very well it’s because they have intolerances. Most people I think would not WANT to only eat meat, but it’s probably preferred over chronic pain.
As a fellow IBS girlie, I really appreciate you speaking out about this. Thank you
Thanks, Sabine. Luv your video.
I figure eat clean get rid of processed food.
This video mirrors my experience as well. I have Cauda Equina Syndrome, so lots of nerve deficit and poor peristalsis in some parts of my intestine. As I aged between 60 and 65, the cyclical constipation and diarrhea became worse and worse. Cutting out High Fructose Corn Syrup helped, but the symptoms continued to get worse with age. Finally, cutting out apple juice and other sources of Sorbitol, made a vast improvement within a 2 week period. I very much appreciate the list of other similar ingredients in this video, and I will pay more attention to those. Thank You Sabine.
Sounds similar to tethered cord syndrome. I'm going to try to look up what the differences are, but if anyone already knows, please post.
If avoiding corn syrup and sorbitol has helped, you might get additional improvement from avoiding all corn-derived sugars which are mainly dextrose, dextrin, maltodextrin, corn starch. That solved much of my peristalsis problem, although I don't have your diagnosis.