Or at least I thought it was. Mrs. D. You will be happy to know you help others not just us on this site.

My husband and I are trying to cut down on our sugar intake. We brought sugar free cookies. Well my husband likes to eat sweets a lot. He ate most of the package. He spent most of the night in the bathroom.

The word sorbitol popped into my head! Mrs D you just talked about its use in supplements I think last week.

So needless to say, I told him to look on the ingredients and there it was.

Thanks for the save Mrs. D. My husband is indebted to you
Haha!!!!

Been there done that!!

That is some nasty stuff for sure. I can't hardly eat it at all. Most things that say sugar free are death traps, buyer beware.

Hi hopeful,

Yep, that sugar free stuff sure has a laxative effect. If not eaten very sparingly, one can expect to spend a lot of time "running" to the potty chair.

Hopeless

I had to give up that stuff as well; my PN thinks it's sugar, and behaves accordingly.

Doc

I have endured the same experience! Sorbitol can show up as an ingredient in so many items we buy these days. Label ingredient reading turns into a marathon task. Buyer beware for sure. CeCe

My sympathies to anyone who gets the sugar alcohol laxative effects. Your poor husband!

There are other "sweeteners" also that will do it...

Maltitol
Xylitol
Mannitol
etc

A full list is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_alcohol

My husband bought me a new "energy" bar... (I usually use Zone bars for snacks etc) and right on the box... may cause a laxative action! Those went right back to Target's! LOL

I think the warning is rare however... Sorbitol is in many things and no warning appears on most. Even on some Hershey's non-dietetic products. Sorbitol is so popular because it keeps foods soft and chewy... and has no calories (this is called being a humectant). It is even in the fake fish sticks sold in grocery stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimi

Russell Stover and Whitman's have recently added sorbitol into their traditional chocolates-- I save the decorative tins at holidays for my brushes and colored pencils and other art supplies, and had a reaction to that candy one Xmas! I have a friend who usually gives me a tin at Xmas.

Whether a product is labeled low sugar, dietetic, or not, it pays to read the ingredients, as sorbitol may be lurking inside!
Our first encounter with sorbitol was about 29 yrs ago when our son had some sugar free PEZ candies. These are dispensed in a toy gizmo, and we bought one at a farmer's market one day.
He was in the toilet for over an hour!

That Hershey's sorbitol event--- I was upNorth, and ended up in the outhouse one night at 11pm or so in a thunderstorm. (in the DARK and alone as hubby went home to work and return in a week later)... clean up is difficult too, as the sorbitol makes everything sticky...messy... and we don't have running water up there. I was soooooo angry at myself for being fooled and at Hershey's! That first time I used that product--- Cherry Kisses--- they did not have sorbitol in them. The newer package had been reformulated to have a longer shelf life. Sooooooo angry! grrrrr.......

There is enough sugar alcohol sweeteners in chewing gum and sugar free mints to cause diarrhea too. One episode of House had him telling this to a guy in the clinic to cut out the sugar free gum chewing!

Mrs. D
That sounds like a terrible experience. Sorbitol is being banned from my house!!!

Mrs. D,

Thanks for the Sorbitol information. (I had never heard about this problem with Sorbitol.) Especially of interest to me was Russell Stover containing Sorbitol.

My husband and I enjoy Russell Stover; especially when on sale. Often I do not go to bed until 2:30 a.m. Not a good idea; but every now and then just before going to bed take a piece or two of Russell Stover Chocolates. Well, have "potty" issues anyway; but I had often wondered if the Stover was part of additonal issues taking place after going to bed. Now; I am no longer even tempted before going to bed . Thank you. Thank you.

I'm sure the incident up North was not "funny" at the time. Yikes!!!


Gerry

It wasn't funny at all at the time.... I had to wait a whole weekend to call Hershey's up on my cell phone and give them @##$$! They sent us 9.00 dollars in coupons (hubby eats the bars all the time), but I avoid them now completely!

I wanted to make them eat the cherry kisses in the woods and leave them there like Survivor and let THEM suffer thusly!

But now I can chuckle over it. Some!

Here is a photo from 2006 of the outhouse. We call it Empoli, because hubby's late aunt who shared it with us, was on a trip when a child with her parents in Italy, and on a train, and she asked the conductor for the lavatory, and he said Empoli, Empoli, meaning at the next station in Empoli, Italy. So she always called our outhouse Empoli and the name stuck over the decades!

The severe storm and thunder/lightning was not terrific with the sorbitol event either! I had about 5 kisses after supper as a dessert, and by 11pm I was out there for over an HOUR!Sheeeeesh! Mercy! It was an awful but very memorable event! LOL

I think the sorbitol is mostly in the nougats and cream centers, of the Russell Stover/Whitmans. But I am not positive on that.

Pretty nice outhouse. Not like the old, old days.