Ping Karen / Medical advice: Benefiber and Guar Gum

So, I noticed that the active ingredient in Benefiber is Guar Gum. I
googled and find all sorts of info about how it's been banned from
weight loss supplements.

Why is it not banned as a fiber supplement? Are the amounts involved
much smaller?

What bugs me is this:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00386.html

"Diet drug products containing guar gum have caused numerous cases of
esophageal, gastric and intestinal obstruction. Many people
affected required hospitalization, and one eventually died as an
indirect result of esophageal obstruction."

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
So, I noticed that the active ingredient in Benefiber is Guar Gum. I
googled and find all sorts of info about how it's been banned from
weight loss supplements.

Why is it not banned as a fiber supplement? Are the amounts involved
much smaller?

What bugs me is this:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00386.html

"Diet drug products containing guar gum have caused numerous cases of
esophageal, gastric and intestinal obstruction. Many people
affected required hospitalization, and one eventually died as an
indirect result of esophageal obstruction."

I would be guessing, although by no means an expert, that Guar Gum used fir
a fibre supplement is mixed with a decent quantaty of water and drunk as a
drink. Certainly, Metacil is (although it uses psylocillen). Low chance of
an obstruction, because with the correct amount of water, it form as a soft
gel (very much like those jello products that don't need refridgeration to
be a gel)

As a weight loss supplement, it comes as a pill. The idea of course is that
when the pill is taken, it is taken with a decent amount of water, and that
the pill will dissolve and form a gel inside the stomach, giving the feeling
of being "full" without having any calorific value. Unfortunaly, somepeople
may not take the pill with enough liquid, or may take too many pills, or
indeed, the pill's outer gelatin cover may not dissolve in time and end up
not in the stomach but in the intestines. If it gets to the intestines
before the guar powder sees a significant amount of liquid, it could eaily
absorb *all* the liquid surrounding it, swelling it to the size of the
intestine and then forming a hard, sticky plug. That would certainly cause
problems.

However, as a fibre supplement, because its in a powder form and is taken as
a *drink* rather than a pill, there wouldn't be much problem with it getting
past the stomach, swelling, and then forming a hard sticky plug.

How do I know this? A vegetarian friend wanted to eat jello but didn't want
to eat the gelatine as its an animal product. She had 'diet pills' that
contained guar gum, so I broke the capsules open and used them to set some
flavoured water instead of using gelatine. And if you don't do it right, you
end up with lumps of horrid sticky mess that are really hard to shift.

Yowie

On 2006-04-19, Yowie penned:

I would be guessing, although by no means an expert, that Guar Gum
used fir a fibre supplement is mixed with a decent quantaty of water
and drunk as a drink. Certainly, Metacil is (although it uses
psylocillen). Low chance of an obstruction, because with the correct
amount of water, it form as a soft gel (very much like those jello
products that don't need refridgeration to be a gel)

That would make sense, except that Benefiber comes in both a powdered
and a pill form. The pill form explicitly advertises that "you don't
need water to use it!" and the powder form says that you can use it in
all sorts of foods. I didn't see any mention of needing to drink
water with either package, although they did give a "not to exceed"
amount per day.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Well that is interesting. I hadn't read that at all. Thanks for the info.
Guar Gum is in everything. It does make me wonder how much these people
take. I mean, to me metamucil is scarrier. It makes water *thick*. When I
have mixed up the benefiber, it's not like that. It does seem to be this
specific "Nature's Way" product that is the problem. They say its "OK" for
other use. So how does that work? Sounds to me like something more specific.
If you run into any other info please share. I'll be looking too.

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
So, I noticed that the active ingredient in Benefiber is Guar Gum. I
googled and find all sorts of info about how it's been banned from
weight loss supplements.

Why is it not banned as a fiber supplement? Are the amounts involved
much smaller?

What bugs me is this:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00386.html

"Diet drug products containing guar gum have caused numerous cases of
esophageal, gastric and intestinal obstruction. Many people
affected required hospitalization, and one eventually died as an
indirect result of esophageal obstruction."

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-04-19, Karen penned:
Well that is interesting. I hadn't read that at all. Thanks for the
info. Guar Gum is in everything. It does make me wonder how much
these people take. I mean, to me metamucil is scarrier. It makes
water *thick*. When I have mixed up the benefiber, it's not like
that. It does seem to be this specific "Nature's Way" product that
is the problem. They say its "OK" for other use. So how does that
work? Sounds to me like something more specific. If you run into
any other info please share. I'll be looking too.


Still nothing specific. I did find this:

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/597_fiber.html

As near as I can tell, the guidelines for IBS are completely
*opposite* of normal healthy eating. Like eating raw fruits and
veggies, lots of insoluble fiber.

*sigh*

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-04-19, Karen penned:
Well that is interesting. I hadn't read that at all. Thanks for the
info. Guar Gum is in everything. It does make me wonder how much
these people take. I mean, to me metamucil is scarrier. It makes
water *thick*. When I have mixed up the benefiber, it's not like
that. It does seem to be this specific "Nature's Way" product that
is the problem. They say its "OK" for other use. So how does that
work? Sounds to me like something more specific. If you run into
any other info please share. I'll be looking too.

Have you seen this?

http://www.helpforibs.com/shop/suplmts/acacia.asp

The product may or may not be interesting, but it explains in great
detail *why* these soluble gums help IBS. I found it more helpful
than anything I've read so far on the issue.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2006-04-19, Karen penned:
Well that is interesting. I hadn't read that at all. Thanks for the
info. Guar Gum is in everything. It does make me wonder how much
these people take. I mean, to me metamucil is scarrier. It makes
water *thick*. When I have mixed up the benefiber, it's not like
that. It does seem to be this specific "Nature's Way" product that
is the problem. They say its "OK" for other use. So how does that
work? Sounds to me like something more specific. If you run into
any other info please share. I'll be looking too.


Still nothing specific. I did find this:

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/597_fiber.html

As near as I can tell, the guidelines for IBS are completely
*opposite* of normal healthy eating. Like eating raw fruits and
veggies, lots of insoluble fiber.

*sigh*



I seriously think it's a combo thing, at least for me. I just have to add
back in the soluble kind. I ate plenty of the other. Since I"ve been keeping
it around 19g (mixed soluble/insoluable) a day, I seem to be doing quite
well. But it needs to be a mix. I make sure I have some of the soluble if I
am going to eat any of the insoluble. It's all such a quandry. THen I have
to worry about Pearl's fiber too! That's even harder yet. If she doesn't get
enough, she gets diarrhea. But fiber is carbs. I have ot figure out what hte
best combination there is too. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!

"Karen" wrote in message
...

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2006-04-19, Karen penned:
Well that is interesting. I hadn't read that at all. Thanks for the
info. Guar Gum is in everything. It does make me wonder how much
these people take. I mean, to me metamucil is scarrier. It makes
water *thick*. When I have mixed up the benefiber, it's not like
that. It does seem to be this specific "Nature's Way" product that
is the problem. They say its "OK" for other use. So how does that
work? Sounds to me like something more specific. If you run into
any other info please share. I'll be looking too.


Still nothing specific. I did find this:

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/597_fiber.html

As near as I can tell, the guidelines for IBS are completely
*opposite* of normal healthy eating. Like eating raw fruits and
veggies, lots of insoluble fiber.

*sigh*



I seriously think it's a combo thing, at least for me. I just have to add
back in the soluble kind. I ate plenty of the other. Since I"ve been
keeping
it around 19g (mixed soluble/insoluable) a day, I seem to be doing quite
well. But it needs to be a mix. I make sure I have some of the soluble if
I
am going to eat any of the insoluble. It's all such a quandry. THen I have
to worry about Pearl's fiber too! That's even harder yet. If she doesn't
get
enough, she gets diarrhea. But fiber is carbs. I have ot figure out what
hte
best combination there is too. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!



I used to have to give the dogs Metamucil. How in heck do you determine the
proper dosage for a five pound dog?

Jo

On 2006-04-19, Jo Firey penned:

I used to have to give the dogs Metamucil. How in heck do you
determine the proper dosage for a five pound dog?

And you sure don't want to give them too much!

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

In article , Monique Y.
Mudama wrote:

On 2006-04-19, Jo Firey penned:

I used to have to give the dogs Metamucil. How in heck do you
determine the proper dosage for a five pound dog?

And you sure don't want to give them too much!

Growing up, I had a miniature dachshund, born without testicles so
always at puppy size, who delighted in eating the indigestible. One
day, we came home to find him developing significant aft thrust, while
rolling his eyes like a slot machine after the handle is pulled.

Rushing him to the vet, no one could figure out exactly what was wrong,
but he started to perk up. The next day, we found the jar he had
emptied.

A pound of Vaseline is an excessive self-administered dose for a
four-pound dog.